Even worse is the fact that Brown’s novel “The Lost Symbol” was initially planned to be the third Hanks feature before the switch to “Inferno.” That change might be telling us something about the source material we’re watching. Considering the landscape of both books and television, it’s hard not to feel like a TV series devoted to Brown’s character is arriving a few years past its expiration date. Now, though, it’s hard to remember what all the fuss was about. The eventual adaptation in 2006, starring Tom Hanks, didn’t have as much controversy as the novel, but it did have plenty of its own success. It’s hard to describe the events of 2003 to someone who didn’t feverishly rush out to read Brown’s “The Da Vinci Code,” one of the most popular books at the time, equally loved and castigated for its claims about Jesus being married and having children. Count on the show to gradually put the pieces together, so it all makes sense in the end (in as much as a clandestine Masonic mystery can make sense to you).It’s been five years since audiences last saw Dan Brown’s character Robert Langdon in the 2016 feature film “Inferno” and it honestly feels like a moment in time that can’t be recreated. A number of drastic scene changes and meeting new characters with no explanation has you saying “what is going on here” in a good way.

The pilot episode of The Lost Symbol does something that a Dan Brown Novel does very well, confuses you in the beginning. “The pilot episode of The Lost Symbol does something that a Dan Brown Novel does very well, confuses you in the beginning.”

Fans of the films will have to make that adjustment, but shouldn’t need to worry about judging this show based on the movies. That is why I think the decision to make this a prequel series combined with Zukerman making no attempt to ape Hanks’ Langdon was wise. Let’s get one thing out of the way early. He then, with some help (in this case, A Museum Security Guard, a CIA Agent and his mentor’s daughter), follows the clues and finds himself in some precarious situations, leading to an interesting enemy. The show follows the same beats as the films do, starting with a mysterious discovery leading to Langdon’s inclusion, thanks to his knowledge of symbols.

The lost symbol tv series