‘The Lost Symbol’ review: Robert Langdon caught in an engaging race against time

With Ron Howard, Dan Brown and Brian Grazer serving as executive producers, the series has impeccable credentials and proves to be an intriguing watch

Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol (2009), the third book featuring Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon, was originally going to be adapted into film. The film adaptations of Brown’s The Da Vinci Code (2006) and Angels & Demons (2009) were produced and directed by Ron Howard and featured Tom Hanks as Langdon. Eventually, The Lost Symbol adaptation was shelved in favour of one of Inferno, based on Brown’s fourth novel featuring Langdon.

Now The Lost Symbol has found life as a limited-edition series and works as a prequel to the films. With Howard, Brown and Brian Grazer (one of the producers of the Langdon trilogy) serving as executive producers, the series has impeccable credentials and proves to be a fairly engaging ride.

Following the book fairly closely with some deviations, the series is a race against time for Langdon (Ashley Zukerman) as he goes against an implacable foe, Mal’akh (Beau Knapp) to save the world from a dreadful weapon.