When the legendary British author Anthony Horowitz asked Guy Burt to adapt his Alex Rider novels for the IMDb TV series, Burt couldn’t refuse.

“Both my kids were fans of the Alex Rider books,” said Alex Rider screenwriter Guy Burt. “So when Anthony said, ‘Would you be interested?’ I jumped at it because I knew him. I’d worked with him before, and I had fans in the family.”

For those who don’t know, the Alex Rider novels—starting with Stormbreaker in 2000—are some of the most successful series of young adult espionage books of all time. With more than a dozen novels so far the Alex Rider collection has sold an incredible 19 million copies. 

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The books are now also the basis for the acclaimed IMDb TV series. Alex Rider Season One, based on Point Blank, dropped in 2020 and Alex Rider Season Two, based on Eagle Strike, followed in 2021.
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Villains, gaming & tech

Eagle Strike (2003) was written two decades ago, so there were elements Burt wanted to be more contemporary in the series—not least, the bad guy, Damian Cray, played by Toby Stephens, who is “utterly brilliant in his role.”

In the novel, Cray is a pop star with a slight Elton John vibe. In the series, he’s a tech billionaire, a damaged individual, and a global threat. The recurring theme in Season Two is gaming and technology.

“It has to do with a computer game that’s perhaps not quite what it seems. As a paid-up computer gaming fan, I love writing that stuff. I’m a total tech geek,” Burt told SPYSCAPE in an interview from his home in Spain.

Screenwriting secrets

“Inevitably, there’s always a process of adaption when you are looking for the heart and soul of the book,” Burt said. “The detail comes far secondary to that for me. If you’ve got your characters and you know who they are, then you can play slightly more fast and loose with details of the plot.”

Burt also collaborates with Alex Rider’s executive producer Anthony Horowitz, who also penned the novels, when he needs to dig into a character’s backstory. Sir Anthony, one of the UK’s best-known authors and screenwriters, was knighted for his contribution to literature in 2014.

“Having Anthony’s screenwriting skills in the mix has been really handy,” Burt said, “because when we hit problems, he’s always at the end of the phone. And I can call him and say ‘we are struggling here,’ and he can help. Nobody knows the Alex Rider cannon like him. He’s got all of the backstories and knows all of the secret stuff that went on in the shadows 30 years ago.

Burt wrote his first screenplay while still at university when After the Hole, his debut novel, was optioned for a movie.

“I got the chance to write the screenplay for that, and I did a terrible job,” Burt said. “My first draft was 180 pages of descriptive nonsense.”

The director, however, was “very sweet,” Burt added. “What you’ve done,” the director said to Burt, “is write another novel.” He showed Burt how to write a screenplay and asked him to have another go.

“That was a baptism of fire, and it was great,” he said. However, Burt didn’t end up writing the screenplay. “It was a choice between studying for my university finals or trying again.”

Exploring dark themes

In 2000 Burt got a second shot at screenwriting with The Visitor, which is about a man who blags his way into a house of 20-something flatmates, with a cast that includes future 007 superstar Daniel Craig. “It’s a dark little fairy tale about modern living,” said Burt.

The premise behind Alex Rider is also dark, Burt conceded.

“There is a fine line to tread,“ Burt said. “If you go straight down that road, it ultimately leads to a very dark show,” which might not be suitable for the audience. 

The storylines revolve around a 14-year-old British schoolboy propelled into the world of espionage after his uncle—a spy—dies in suspicious circumstances. Alex is then forced to do shady and dangerous espionage work for The Department, a renegade MI5/MI6 offshoot that doesn’t always follow the law.

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Spying and the dark arts‍

“The Department is in the grey area—it’s deniable,” Burt said. “They are using Alex, an underaged, teenage asset, to do their dirty work for them, making it even more deniable.”

Anyone who has watched Alex Rider Season One knows Alex has been through quite an ordeal.

“We are acknowledging that the first season would have had a hell of an impact on a teenager,” said Burt. “I mean, you don’t just walk away from that happy and smiling. But the Alex that we are following through Season Two doesn’t remain a traumatized character—he becomes rehabilitated into thinking: There is a problem here, and I need to solve it.’”

The show is aimed at audiences of 12 and above, though “you should be able to enjoy it (even) if you are 35,” Burt said, adding that in order to give it a wider appeal he fleshed out—or in some cases even changed—some of the adult characters. The series is an adaptation of the books, rather than a small-screen carbon copy.