Netflix’s Man on Fire, a seven-episode take on A.J. Quinnell’s 1980 novel, is now streaming in the U.S., and Yahya Abdul‑Mateen II plays John Creasy in the 2026 adaptation.
The series, written and showrun by Kyle Killen and directed in its first two episodes by Steven Caple Jr., follows a Special Forces soldier battling PTSD after a mission went terribly wrong, who is called back into action by his former CIA handler and becomes the sole protector of teenage Poe, played by Billie Boullet. The show adapts two books in Quinnell’s series — Man on Fire and The Perfect Kill — and also stars Alice Braga, Scoot McNairy, Paul Ben‑Victor and Bobby Cannavale.
That setup is the clearest measure of what this version is trying to do: shift the story into darker, more adult terrain while stretching the original into a seven‑episode shape. ’s review, which described the Netflix series as a six‑parter, singled out Abdul‑Mateen’s performance, writing, "Yahya Abdul‑Mateen II is formidable in Netflix’s take on the thriller novel Denzel Washington turned into a noughties action movie." It added that "The pain of his past is etched by Abdul‑Mateen into every line;" and that Poe becomes Creasy’s emotional salvation.
Those lines matter because they tie the new series directly to what viewers remember from earlier versions: Quinnell’s 1980 book and the two previous film adaptations, a 1987 version starring Scott Glenn and Tony Scott’s 2004 film with Denzel Washington. In the 2004 film the Creasy character was moved to Mexico City and the child survived; the Netflix series retools that legacy by moving Creasy’s arc to Brazil notes a colleague invites Creasy to Rio de Janeiro — and by making Poe a young adult rather than a child.
There is a tension at the center of the release. Netflix bills the show as seven episodes; ’s review calls it a six‑parter. The creative choices that follow — aging Poe into a teenager, relocating Creasy’s life to Brazil, and foregrounding the Special Forces veteran’s attempted suicide soon after viewers meet him — pull the material in a different tonal direction from the 2004 action‑thriller template. frames that pull explicitly and even asks, "Wouldn’t that be even better?" as it considers the changes.
That friction is not just academic. The stakes of the remake depend on how those choices reshape the central relationship: Creasy as protector and Poe as witness to a terrorist bombing. The Netflix series makes Poe the only witness to that bombing, which in turn makes Creasy’s campaign to protect her the narrative engine across its episodes. Kyle Killen’s role as writer, showrunner and executive producer places him squarely in charge of how the two Quinnell novels are stitched together; Steven Caple Jr.’s direction for the opening episodes sets the tone that the rest of the cast follows.
Critics who flagged Abdul‑Mateen’s performance are not alone in noting the series’ seriousness; concludes bluntly that "Yahya Abdul‑Mateen II is the new Creasy – and his presence is formidable." Abdul‑Mateen himself arrives in the role with a résumé that includes Aquaman, Watchmen and Wonder Man, and the series leans on that action and dramatic experience to sell a darker take on the character made famous on screen by Denzel Washington in 2004.
So does Man On Fire 2026 work? The short answer, based on the creative team and the early critical line, is yes: the adaptation intends to be a reinterpretation rather than a remake, and Abdul‑Mateen anchors that effort. The series is a deliberate, somber retelling that amplifies Creasy’s trauma and refocuses the story around a teenage Poe in Rio — a choice that, as suggests, makes the whole project feel like a new creature rather than a retread.
