Strike on BBC One: Everything we know about a possible series 7 of crime drama
By Helen Fear | Tue Dec 10 2024Robert Galbraith's Strike series is the Christmas gift that keeps on giving - even if the wait often feels unbearably long - but will there be a series 7 and when can we watch it?
December 2024 sees the long-awaited arrival of Strike - The Ink Black Heart, the latest adaptation of the popular crime novels. And we've had to wait two years for it.
We last saw private investigators Cormoran Strike and Robin Ellacott in the 2022 series Troubled Blood, based on the fifth book in the series.
Fans will know that, so far, there have been seven books published by Robert Galbraith, aka J.K. Rowling writing under the male pseudonym. So will book 7 - The Running Grave - be adapted for TV? Here's everything we know so far about whether BBC One has commissioned a series 7 of Strike...
What is the next book in the Robert Galbraith Strike series?
Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger will be returning to our screens in the upcoming series of Strike - The Ink Black Heart (Monday, December 16, 2024). The series is based on the novels by J.K. Rowling (written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith).
It will be the sixth series adapted from the popular novels, and begins shortly after the events of Troubled Blood ended.
The seventh book in the Strike series is called The Running Grave. It was first published in September 2023. The plot follows Cormoran Strike after he is contacted by a worried father whose son, Will, has joined a religious cult in the depths of the Norfolk countryside.
Strike discovers that, beneath the surface, there are deeply sinister undertones - and unexplained deaths. In order to try to rescue Will, Robin Ellacott decides to infiltrate the cult... At great risk to herself.
The Observer called the book "a page-turner that will keep you up all night".
Will there be a series 7 of Strike?
Yes, there will be a series 7 of Strike. Like the first six books, the seventh book - The Running Grave - will also be adapted.
Although BBC One hasn't officially confirmed it's happening, it's a no-brainer. Talking to Radio Times, actor Tom Burke - who plays Cormoran Strike - as good as confirmed the series.
Talking about the will-they-won't-they relationship between his character and Robin, he said: "Holliday [Grainger] and I have talked about it a lot, and we feel like the currency of it has so much to do with the slow burn arc of it, not the individual stories, and that's why it feels so worthwhile playing it through to the end."
How many more Strike books will there be?
Author J.K. Rowling recently told The Times about her future plans for the Strike novel series.
She explained: "I've got six books in my head. I've got the one I'm currently writing. There'll be two more Strikes, and then there are three more books that I want to get to."
So, after The Hallmarked Man, J.K. Rowling has promised at least one more Strike book.
What is the 8th Strike novel and series?
In March 2024, J.K. Rowling revealed on X - formerly known as Twitter - that the title of the eighth novel in the Strike series is The Hallmarked Man.
She teased fans by posting a couple of photos of the island of Sark and one of a silver bracelet with a Sark coat-of-arms hallmark.
The Hallmarked Man, the 8th book in J.K. Rowling's Cormoran Strike series, is expected to be released sometime in 2025.
How many Strike novels has J.K. Rowling written as Robert Galbraith?
J.K. Rowling has written seven bestselling Strike crime novels written under the pseudonym Robert Galbraith.
The most recent is The Running Grave, which was published in September 2023.
In order, they are:
The Cuckoo's Calling.
The Silkworm.
Career of Evil.
Lethal White.
Troubled Blood.
The Ink Black Heart.
The Running Grave.
When will Strike - The Running Grave be on TV?
BBC One has not yet confirmed a transmission date for Robert Galbraith's novel The Running Grave. But, as it was released in 2023, we'd expect it no earlier than late 2025.
Of course, this depends on Tom Burke and Holliday Grainger's filming schedules.
Past series have generally come every two years - with the exception of the first three series which came out in 2017 and 2018. But they had the benefit of the books already having been published.
The scriptwriters are now playing catch-up. Series 4 - Lethal White - came out in 2020, after the corresponding book was published a year earlier in 2018.
Series 5 - Troubled Blood - arrived in 2022, a year after the book of the same name was published in 2020.
The Ink Black Heart was published in 2022, and arrives on our screens in 2024. We'd expect Strike series 7, entitled The Running Grave, to arrive on the BBC no earlier than Christmas 2025 if we're lucky!
Watch this space for more details on Strike series 7.
