Editing Spenser (character) (section)

==Adaptations==

The universe depicted in the TV episodes and movies diverges from that in the novels, though many of the filmed presentations are based on, and named after, novels in the series.

===Spenser TV series===
{{Main|Spenser: For Hire|A Man Called Hawk}}
The Spenser books were the inspiration for the 1985-1988 [[American Broadcasting Company|ABC]] TV series ''[[Spenser: For Hire]]'' starring [[Robert Urich]] as Spenser, [[Barbara Stock]] as Susan, and [[Avery Brooks]] as Hawk. All three seasons of the series have been released on DVD by the Warner Archive Collection.

Avery Brooks starred in a spin-off series entitled ''[[A Man Called Hawk]]''.

===First Spenser film series===
Four [[made-for-TV movies]] based upon the series were produced by the [[Lifetime (TV network)|Lifetime]] cable network between 1993 and 1995, again starring Robert Urich and Avery Brooks. The movies were based on four of Parker's novels: ''Ceremony'', ''Pale Kings and Princes'', ''The Judas Goat'' and ''A Savage Place''. Parker and his wife Joan co-wrote the first two screenplays. Barbara Stock was replaced as Susan Silverman in the first two movies by [[Barbara Williams (actress)|Barbara Williams]] and in the last two by veteran actress [[Wendy Crewson]] (''[[Air Force One (film)|Air Force One]]''). Frank Belson was played by J. Winston Carroll.  Parker's son Daniel appears in all four movies as a waiter in Spenser's favorite restaurant.  Unlike the series, which was filmed in Boston, the new movies were filmed in Toronto (to take advantage of lower production costs). The first two movies retained the novels' Boston setting (parts of Toronto passed for Boston), while the second two were re-written to take place in Toronto.

===Second Spenser film series===
{{Main|Spenser (film series)}}
Beginning in 1999, [[Joe Mantegna]] played Spenser in three TV movies on the [[A&E Network|A&E]] cable network: ''[[Small Vices]]'' (1999), ''[[Thin Air (Parker novel)|Thin Air]]'' (2000), ''[[Walking Shadow]]'' (2001). [[Marcia Gay Harden]] played Susan, while [[Shiek Mahmud-Bey]] and, later, [[Ernie Hudson]] played Hawk. Robert B. Parker had a significant role in the development of the TV movies (all three films were adapted by Parker, with his wife co-authoring ''Walking Shadow'').

===Spenser Netflix movie===
{{Main|Spenser Confidential}}
''Spenser Confidential'' (formerly called "Wonderland") is a [[mystery film]] directed by [[Peter Berg]] and written by Sean O'Keefe. The film is very loosely based on the 2013 novel by [[Ace Atkins]], an authorized continuation of the Spenser series. It uses the names of characters from the series of novels and a Boston setting, but otherwise departs substantially from the Parker/Atkins novels. The film stars [[Mark Wahlberg]] as Spenser, [[Winston Duke]] as Hawk  and [[Alan Arkin]] as Henry Cimoli. [[Post Malone]], [[Iliza Shlesinger]], [[Bokeem Woodbine]] and [[Donald Cerrone]] also appear. ''Spenser Confidential'' was released by [[Netflix]] in March 2020. The movie received generally negative reviews, with Atkins taking negative swipes at both Wahlberg and the movie itself in the pages of the two Spenser novels released after the movie.