J.K. Rowling's 'Cormoran Strike' crime series headed to HBO

'Harry Potter' author J.K. Rowling lights the Empire State Building to mark the launch of her non-profit children's organization Lumos, in New York on April 9, 2015. (Evan Agostini / Invision)

The literary series penned by 'Harry Potter' author J.K. Rowling about private detective Cormoran Strike is to be adapted for TV by the BBC and HBO, which will broadcast the show in the U.S. and Canada.

In late 2014, British TV broadcaster BBC announced plans to bring a new hero, Cormoran Strike, to the airwaves. The English detective is the central character in three of J.K. Rowling's novels, published under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith. Now, the prestigious US cable network HBO has joined the project, acquiring broadcasting rights for the USA and Canada. The BBC and HBO previously partnered to produce and screen the miniseries based on the British author's first post-Harry Potter novel, "The Casual Vacancy," which aired in 2015.

The TV adaptation of Cormoran Strike will be based on a series of crime novels written by Rowling under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith -- "The Cuckoo's Calling," "The Silkworm" and "Career of Evil" -- published between 2013 and 2015. The books follow the investigations of private detective Cormoran Strike. This Afghanistan veteran, who quit the army after losing part of his leg in a bombing, will be played by English actor Tom Burke. The London-born actor has previous experience when it comes to literary adaptations, notably playing Athos in English TV series "The Musketeers," based on "The Three Musketeers" by Alexandre Dumas, and playing a psychotic Russian soldier in a recent BBC adaptation of "War and Peace."

Filming is due to start this fall in London, with J.K. Rowling signed up as an executive producer.

Rowling's police novels have sold more than four million copies in total worldwide. A fourth installment is also expected in 2017.

Each of Rowling's novels appears destined to be adapted either for TV or the big screen. After the seven novels in the "Harry Potter" series, "Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them" has now been made into a movie, out November 18, starring Oscar-winner Eddie Redmayne, and is the first in a series of five films. Warner is now considering adapting "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child," a play set 20 years after the last Harry Potter novel, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows." The script was published as a book on July 31, 2016, and is considered the eighth installment in the saga. Warner may even try to convince Daniel Radcliffe to step back into the young wizard's shoes for the production.