Avatar Takes Spanish Spy Novel Hunting the Executioner for TV
Avatar Entertainment has bought the television rights to Hunting the Executioner, the spy novel by Spanish news anchor Vicente Vallés, and is developing it as an eight-part series. No streamer or network is attached yet. The deal was reported on 14 October 2026. Deadline
Writers Borja Moreno and Pablo Riquelme Cuartero are attached to adapt the book. The pair are managed by Avatar. Avatar founder Larry Robinson will serve as executive producer, overseeing the project creatively and financially. Robinson and Avatar are represented by CAA. Deadline
The story pairs an American CIA agent with a Spanish secret agent. They are hunting a mysterious assassin who is killing Western spies. The chase runs across the United States, Russia, China and Spain, according to a Spanish review of the novel. Revista Tarántula
Vallés is a familiar face in Spain. He anchors the evening news on broadcaster Antena 3. Hunting the Executioner, originally titled La caza del ejecutor, is his second novel. It was published in Spain by Editorial Espasa in 2025. Espasa is part of Grupo Planeta.
The project reunites the writers with Vallés after an earlier attempt. Vallés’s first novel, Operation Kazan, was previously set up at Universal Television. It was later put into turnaround, meaning the studio let it go and the rights became available again. Moreno and Riquelme Cuartero had been hired by Universal to work on that version. Deadline
Avatar is a London- and Los Angeles-based production, management and financing organisation. It has been building a slate of book adaptations. Recent agreements include TV rights to Katy Hogan’s novel Out of the Darkness, Robert Enright’s Sam Pope book series and Mary Dearborn’s biography of Ernest Hemingway. It also acquired rights to Paul A. Mendelson’s novel Seville in late 2025.
Casting, production dates and a broadcast home have not been announced. The eight episodes are in development while Avatar talks to potential partners.
