Michael B. Jordan might just be on the verge of giving Dwayne Johnson a run for his money as Hollywood’s most omnipresent action star. The actor has nabbed a starring role in another prospective franchise, having just been cast in an adaptation of the popular novel series, The Silver Bear.
Jordan’s casting in The Silver Bear, as reported by Deadline, will see Jordan star as a shadowy assassin who calls himself Columbus but is known as a bit of a boogeyman in the Russian criminal underworld as the assassin, the Silver Bear. The film is based on the first entry in the novel series of author Derek Haas, who also wrote the screenplays for films like Wanted, 3:10 to Yuma (2007), 2 Fast 2 Furious and Invincible. While a director has yet to be appointed, the screenplay adapting Haas’s novel will be written by Frank Baldwin (The Godmother).
Jordan will also serve as a producer, via Outlier Society joined by Vishal Rungta of Nickel City Pictures, Mark Fasano and Ankur Rungta. “We could not be more excited to work with Michael,” said Rungta. “We have been huge fans of Michael all the way back to his days in The Wire, and from our first meeting we knew that he was the perfect fit for the role of Columbus.”
Haas’s The Silver Bear series launched in 2008, when the titular hitman becomes embroiled in a dangerous political game as he takes on the assignment of killing a presidential-aspiring Speaker of the House. Columbus earned the name Silver Bear because he never fails and is immune to stressors of the job (like, err, a silver bear?), but he gets tested when the target turns out to be his own father.
Haas’s Silver Bear novels continued with potential film sequel fodder in 2009’s The Hunt for the Bear, 2011’s Dark Men and 2015’s A Different Life.
The Silver Bear will join Michael B. Jordan’s enviable backlog (not counting a recent Superman rumor), which recently gained another action franchise since he is talks to star in Tom Clancy adaptation, Without Remorse and sequel Rainbow Six. Before that, he’s set to reunite with his Fruitvale Station/Creed/Black Panther director Ryan Coogler for a drama, called Wrong Answer. He’s also set to co-star in the January 2020-scheduled drama, Just Mercy, alongside Brie Larson, Jamie Foxx and Tim Blake Nelson. If that’s not enough, he’ll be seen next in Creed II, which arrives on November 30th.
We’ll keep you updated on The Silver Bear, and on Micahel B. Jordan’s Hollywood takeover, as we get it.