тιтus Welliver was perfect casting as Bosch, but the first actor in line to play the part could have been great too. Bosch author Michael Connelly didn’t have the best of luck with adaptations of his work in the past. The first big movie based on his novels was Clint Eastwood’s worst action movie Blood Work in 2002.
While the author has credited the film with giving him his Hollywood break, he wasn’t a fan of the final product. In 2025, audiences can barely move with hit Connolly adaptations, with both The Lincoln Lawyer and Bosch shows still going strong. Bosch even has a hit spinoff with Ballard, starring Maggie Q.
Going back to his early run-ins with the film business, in the 1990s Connolly optioned two Bosch novels to producer Mace Neufeld: Black Ice and The Black Echo. Neufeld was the producer behind the Jack Ryan film, and presumably saw franchise potential in the character. By the start of the 2000s, pre-production really started to gear up on Black Ice.
John Travolta Almost Played Bosch In A Movie Adaptation Of Black Ice
Filmmakers like Oliver Stone and Steven Soderbergh were being linked as directors, while John Travolta was close to signing on as Bosch. Travolta may have been dinged by the critical and commercial disaster of Battlefield Earth around this time, but he was still riding high off hits like Pulp Fiction and Face/Off.
It’s hard to picture anybody but тιтus Welliver as Bosch now, but of all the A-list stars that could have played the detective in the early 2000s, Travolta was a great choice. He played similar types of detective roles to Bosch in The General’s Daughter and Basic, who were also driven to solve cases no matter the personal cost.
Travolta does tend to go a little hammy, but had he reined that in and played both the melancholy and dry humor of Bosch, he would have nailed it. Ultimately, Travolta moved on from the adaptation, which soon fell into limbo.
The Bosch Movie Was Trapped In Development Hell For 15 Years
It’s not uncommon for movies to get mired in development hell, where shifting trends and studio properties can see a “go” project get kicked to the sidelines. In the case of Bosch, it appears the inherent darkness of the material made Paramount shy away from the series as the years wore on.
A Bosch adaptation would have sat comfortably alongside the Morgan Freeman Alex Cross series or the Jack Ryan movies in the late 1990s/early 2000s, but those kind of R-rated thrillers waned in popularity during the 2000s. This left Connolly understandably frustrated, since the studio had a 15-year option and he couldn’t take the property elsewhere.
Bosch Creator Michael Connolly Had To Sue To Get His Character Back
A Hollywood Reporter feature explained the ugly reality behind Conolly getting the rights from Paramount. According to the option deal, if the studio hadn’t made a Bosch film within 15 years, Connolly had a year to buy the rights back – so long as he reimbursed all development costs.
According to a lawsuit Connolly filed, the studio then inflated the development numbers and failed to provide proper documentation for them. The case was settled in October 2010, and while Connolly didn’t elaborate on the terms of the settlement, he got his character back.
This led to the development of Prime’s Bosch series, with тιтus Welliver being cast in the тιтle role. While the original series and its spinoff Legacy have since ended, Welliver reprised the role for three episodes of Ballard.
Source: THR
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Bosch
- Created by
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Eric Overmyer
- First TV Show
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Bosch
- Latest TV Show
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Bosch: Legacy
- Upcoming TV Shows
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Ballard
- First Episode Air Date
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February 6, 2014
- Cast
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тιтus Welliver, Jamie Hector, Amy Aquino, Lance Reddick, Madison Lintz, Mimi Rogers, Paul Calderon, Jason Gedrick, Sarah Clarke, Jeri Ryan
The Bosch franchise is a critically acclaimed American police procedural series centered on LAPD detective Harry Bosch. Adapted from Michael Connelly’s novels, the franchise began with Bosch (2014–2021) on Amazon Prime Video, followed by the sequel series Bosch: Legacy (2022–present) on Amazon Freevee. The franchise is expanding with an upcoming series focusing on Detective Renée Ballard.
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Harry Bosch
- NAME
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Hieronymus “Harry” Bosch
- Alias
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Harry Bosch
- Created By
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Michael Connelly
- POWERS
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Exceptional investigative skills, keen intuition, lock-picking, knowledge of criminal psychology, proficiency in firearms, relentless determination
- RELATIONSHIPS
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Marjorie Phillips Lowe (mother, deceased), J. Michael Haller Sr. (father, deceased), Mickey Haller (half-brother), Eleanor Wish (ex-wife, deceased), Madeline “Maddie” Bosch (daughter), Jerry Edgar (partner, friend), Renée Ballard (colleague, ally), Rachel Walling (former romantic interest), Julia Brasher (former romantic interest), Irvin Irving (adversary)
- HISTORY
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Harry Bosch served as a “tunnel rat” during the Vietnam War before joining the LAPD, where he became a homicide detective. His career is characterized by high-profile cases and frequent clashes with superiors due to his unorthodox methods. After retiring from the LAPD, Bosch worked as a private investigator and took on cases that continued to test his moral compᴀss and dedication to justice.
Harry Bosch is a tenacious and principled detective known for his unwavering commitment to justice. A former LAPD homicide detective and Vietnam War veteran, Bosch’s career is marked by his relentless pursuit of truth, often clashing with authority figures. His personal motto, “Everybody counts or nobody counts,” underscores his dedication to treating every victim with equal importance. Bosch’s character has been central to a series of novels by Michael Connelly and has been portrayed by тιтus Welliver in the television adaptations.
