The books have been adapted for TV before, but this version has been marketed as a darker spin on the classic tales set in the 1980s. The show is inspired by the popular mystery book series that debuted nearly a century ago, written by various ghostwriters - including Canadian Leslie McFarlane - under the pseudonym Franklin W. “I can’t imagine how cool it must be as a parent to be able to see your child experience something that you also experienced at their age, and share the joy you felt, it’s what comes to mind,” he said in an interview. Rohan Campbell, the 25-year-old Alberta-born actor who plays older brother Frank Hardy, said the show’s appeal - much like recent TV and film iterations of older stories and pop culture phenomena comes down to nostalgia. “That kind of just melted my heart and the ability to reach every part of that legacy is really special.”

“I remember scrolling down a few IMDb reviews and I saw a whole paragraph and it was this guy who went into so much detail about how he’s 60 years old and grew up reading the books and that he now gets to share it with his kids,” said 18-year-old Toronto actor Alexander Elliot, who plays Joe Hardy, the younger of the two titular teenage brothers and amateur mystery solvers. As YTV’s The Hardy Boys enters its final chapter, the show’s stars say they’re proud of the way the latest screen adaptation of the classic book series has bridged generations of fans since its 2020 debut.

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