Yahya Abdul-Mateen II Reveals the Bold Twist That Sets Netflix’s Man on Fire Apart From Denzel Washington’s Film

Netflix is dusting off A.J. Quinnell's Man on Fire and turning it into a sleek new series, three years in the making. If that title rings a bell, it should: Scott Glenn headlined the 1987 film, and Denzel Washington burned through Tony Scott's 2004 version that critics dunked on back then but a lot of folks have come around on since. Now Marvel and DC alum Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is stepping into John Creasy's shoes for a modern take that actually tries to feel modern.

Yahya on dodging the Denzel trap

In a chat promoting the show, Abdul-Mateen made it clear he wasn't chasing Denzel's ghost. Smart move. He said the only way to win was to play his own game.

"I had the task of stacking the deck in my own favor, and the quickest way to lose is to start a comparison game. So, I said, 'Well, what is it that I like about this? And what is it that I want to say?' And when I'm being true to myself and when I'm having a good time, when I feel like I'm winning, everybody wins."

He also found something darkly funny in Creasy: a man thrown into a situation he really shouldn't be in and absolutely not ready for. As he tells it, actually stepping inside that mess, committing to every bad turn and hard choice, stripped away whatever outside pressure came with following a beloved performance.

What actually changes this time

The bones of the story are the same — a former elite operator, a young girl in danger, and a man with nothing left to lose — but the series moves the action and rewires Creasy's past to fit now.

• 1987 film: Naples, Italy. A former special forces soldier on a rescue mission, straight from Quinnell's novel.
• 2004 film: Mexico City. Tony Scott, Denzel, blazing style, critical roasting at release, later reappraised.
• 2026 Netflix series: Rio de Janeiro. Creasy is reimagined as a veteran of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars.

Finding Creasy under the scars

Abdul-Mateen says the thing that unlocked the character wasn't geography or guns — it was grief. His Creasy has taken a hit so severe it shut him down emotionally. He keeps people at arm's length not because he can't connect, but because losing someone again would break him all over. That universal kind of hurt is what he leaned on: a man trying (and often failing) to rebuild himself and relearn how to let anyone in. For him, that angle mattered far more than measuring up to past adaptations.

The release plan

Netflix will drop all seven episodes of Man on Fire on April 30, 2026.