Netflix straight up jacked the characters and plot for its hit show “Outer Banks” from an already published book … at least according to the author of a novel, who’s now out for some legal revenge.
The streaming giant is being sued by Jeff Wilson, who claims there are way too many similarities between a book he wrote, “Queen Anne’s Revenge,” and ‘OB’ for it to be pure coincidence.
According to the lawsuit, obtained by TMZ, Wilson says in 2013 he published his novel, which follows 4 friends on a treasure hunt from a famous shipwreck near the outer banks of North Carolina.
Wilson says his book was even promoted by Discovery and History Channel, and he claims the ‘OB’ creators have even confessed … they relied on other books and authors for inspiration to write the scripted series.
The author claims his book was drawn from heavily … he says the main cast and their character arcs are almost identical to his novel … and he says the plot points and settings are eerily similar, too.
Wilson is suing Netflix for copyright infringement … and he wants the streaming giant to fork over any profits they’ve made from infringing on his novel and an injunction stopping Netflix from distributing or advertising “Outer Banks.”
It’s worth noting … another novelist, Kevin Wooten, previously sued Netflix and the ‘OB’ creators, claiming they ripped off his 2016 book … but the suit was dismissed after a judge didn’t find sufficient similarities between the two.
We reached out to Netflix about this latest suit … so far no word back.