Morgan Spector Robert Langdon casting set for Netflix’s Dan Brown series
Morgan Spector will lead Netflix’s The Secret of Secrets, taking on Dan Brown’s Robert Langdon after Tom Hanks’ film run.
By Poppy Nakagawa · Culture Writer
3 min read
Morgan Spector Robert Langdon casting is now set at Netflix: Deadline reports that the actor has closed his deal to star in the streamer’s series version of Dan Brown’s mystery thriller The Secret of Secrets.
Spector, known for The Gilded Age and Black Rabbit, will play Brown’s famous Harvard professor, a role previously played in films by Tom Hanks. The Netflix project comes from Brown and Carlton Cuse, whose credits include Lost and Five Days at Memorial.
Who is Morgan Spector playing in The Secret of Secrets?
Spector is playing Robert Langdon, the academic puzzle-solver at the center of Brown’s long-running book series. Deadline describes Langdon as a Harvard professor and symbologist with an eidetic memory, using his intellect to work through mysteries tied to science and spirituality.
The Netflix series has not yet been given a title, according to Deadline. The show is expected to draw from The Secret of Secrets, Brown’s novel published by Doubleday on September 9, 2025.
In the book’s story, Langdon is trying to save his girlfriend, a scientist who has disappeared along with a major manuscript. Deadline reports that the manuscript contains discoveries with the potential to alter humanity’s understanding of the mind.
The series is being described as a mix of advanced science and mystical legend, according to Deadline. That puts Netflix right back in the kind of code-cracking, symbol-chasing territory that made Langdon one of Brown’s signature creations.
What does this mean for The Gilded Age?
Deadline reports that Spector’s new Netflix job does not signal an exit from HBO’s The Gilded Age, where he plays railroad tycoon George Russell. The outlet says Spector could work on both shows with the right scheduling if The Gilded Age receives a fifth-season renewal.
Season 4 of The Gilded Age is expected to arrive this fall, according to Deadline.
Rebecca Hall is also in the orbit of the Netflix project. Deadline previously reported that Hall is poised to take the female lead in the series, though the latest report centers on Spector’s completed deal.
Cuse and Brown are co-creators and executive producers on the adaptation, Deadline reports. Cuse is also writing and serving as showrunner.
Emma Forman of Cuse’s Genre-Arts is executive producing with Zoe Robyn. Netflix picked up the project in May 2025 with a straight-to-series order, according to Deadline.
Cuse praised the casting in a statement to Deadline, saying, “Morgan is a truly wonderful actor whose work is always filled with intelligence, thoughtfulness and humanity.” He added that Spector is “the perfect fit for Robert Langdon,” pointing to the character’s curiosity, intelligence and intellect as the tools he relies on.
For Netflix, the casting gives its Dan Brown series a lead actor with a high-profile HBO role already on his résumé. For Langdon fans, it marks the next screen chapter for the professor after Hanks’ big-screen run.
This story draws on original reporting from Deadline.