Some on-screen partnerships are difficult to recreate.
Millie Bobby Brown and David Harbour spent five seasons building one of Netflix’s most recognizable father-daughter relationships in Stranger Things. Now the two actors are officially working together again, but this time in a completely different kind of story.
Netflix has ordered an untitled spy thriller starring Brown and Harbour, with A24 producing and Adolescence co-creator Jack Thorne writing and executive producing. Deadline broke the news on June 26, 2026, with Netflix confirming the project through its own announcement.
The series is loosely inspired by Paul Warner’s novel A Spy in the Blood and will once again put Brown and Harbour in a father-daughter relationship. Warner himself later confirmed that his novel is the source material for the adaptation.
This Isn’t Another Stranger Things Story
The new series has nothing to do with Hawkins, the Upside Down or the supernatural world of Stranger Things.
According to Netflix’s official synopsis, Harbour plays Matt Wolfe, a disgraced former FBI agent who has become a security expert. His estranged daughter, Rebecca, played by Brown, is now an FBI agent herself and has followed the career path her father once pursued.
When Rebecca disappears during a mission, Matt is forced back into the world of espionage he left behind.
That gives the new project a familiar emotional setup while moving the actors into an entirely different genre.
Instead of supernatural horror, the story revolves around espionage, an FBI investigation and a father trying to find his missing daughter.
Brown And Harbour Are Playing Father And Daughter Again
The obvious connection to Stranger Things is the relationship between the two leads.
Brown and Harbour played Eleven and Jim Hopper across all five seasons of the Netflix series. Their relationship developed from an uneasy introduction into one of the show’s central emotional bonds.
The new series puts them back into a father-daughter dynamic, although the circumstances are very different.
This time, Rebecca isn’t a mysterious young girl being protected by Hopper. She’s an FBI agent following in her father’s footsteps.
Netflix’s Head of Scripted Series for the U.S. and Canada, Jinny Howe, described the project as a story about an “estranged father and daughter on opposite sides of a crisis.”
Jack Thorne Is Behind The Series
The project also reunites Brown with another major Enola Holmes collaborator.
Jack Thorne is writing and executive producing the series. Thorne co-created Netflix’s Adolescence and wrote both Enola Holmes films starring Brown. He is also attached to the upcoming third Enola Holmes movie.
His involvement gives the project another connection to Netflix beyond Stranger Things.
Thorne has built a reputation for character-driven drama, which could be particularly useful here because the central relationship is just as important to the premise as the espionage itself.
A24 Is Producing
A24 is producing the series alongside Netflix, with Cut To also attached to the project.
For A24, the series represents another major television project, while Netflix is bringing together several collaborators who already have connections to the streamer.
The combination of A24, Thorne, Brown and Harbour gives the series a fairly notable creative lineup before filming has even begun.
The Story Comes From A Spy In The Blood
The series is loosely inspired by Paul Warner’s 2026 debut novel A Spy in the Blood.
Warner confirmed the connection himself after the Netflix announcement, explaining that the project is based on his novel. He also revealed that the original character was called Mark Wolfe in the book before the television adaptation changed the name to Matt Wolfe and relocated the story to the United States.
The original novel follows a former spy who has spent years away from fieldwork before being pulled back into action when his daughter becomes involved in the intelligence world.
The Netflix adaptation shifts that setup toward the FBI and gives Brown’s character Rebecca a more direct connection to the agency.
The Series Has A Straight-To-Series Order
Netflix didn’t order a pilot and wait to decide whether the project would continue.
The company gave the series a straight-to-series order, meaning the project moved directly into series development rather than following the traditional pilot process. Deadline reported the order when announcing the project.
That doesn’t mean Netflix has announced how many episodes the first season will contain.
An episode count, official title and release date have not been announced.
Production timing has also not been officially confirmed by Netflix.
This Is Brown And Harbour’s First New Series Together After Stranger Things
Stranger Things concluded with its fifth and final season, closing the chapter on Eleven and Hopper’s story.
Their new Netflix project gives the actors another opportunity to work together without continuing those characters.
Harbour has also spoken positively about the reunion, explaining that he and Brown wanted to create something that retained the emotional chemistry audiences associate with them while taking that relationship in a completely different direction.
That makes the project more than a simple continuation of their previous work.
It’s a completely new set of characters built around a relationship that will inevitably remind viewers of their Stranger Things history.
What We Know About The Netflix Spy Thriller
For now, the confirmed information is fairly straightforward.
Netflix is developing the untitled spy thriller with Millie Bobby Brown as Rebecca and David Harbour as Matt Wolfe. Jack Thorne is writing and executive producing, while A24 and Cut To are involved in production. The series is loosely based on Paul Warner’s A Spy in the Blood and has received a straight-to-series order.
Netflix has not yet announced the number of episodes, a premiere date or the rest of the principal cast.
That means the premise is clear, but the project is still early enough that plenty of details remain to be revealed.
A New Father-Daughter Story For Brown And Harbour
The Stranger Things connection will obviously be part of the conversation whenever this series is discussed.
But the actual premise gives Brown and Harbour a chance to do something substantially different. Matt is a disgraced former FBI agent trying to return to a profession that has moved on without him, while Rebecca is already an agent when she disappears.
That creates a relationship built around two people who understand the same dangerous world but approach it from very different positions.
Whether the series can turn that setup into something more than a Stranger Things reunion remains to be seen.
For now, the important news is straightforward: Netflix has ordered the series, Deadline broke the announcement on June 26, 2026, A24 and Jack Thorne are attached, and Brown and Harbour are officially heading back onto the same screen as father and daughter.
