Ever since The Avengers, there has been a massive amount of jawing in Hollywood among studios and producers wanting to replicate the crossover success that Disney has achieved. While a lot of it sounds good on paper, most of it is just a pipe dream because the level of dedication that is needed to invent a franchise like that is just too much to bear for any company that lives and dies tentpole-to-tentpole.
Fortunately, today we are hearing for the first time that a studio has much more than simply hope in accomplishing just that as the Kenneth Branagh-directed franchise reboot of the Jack Ryan series (Clear and Present Danger, Patriot Games, Sum of All Fears) will signal the start of something much bigger. We already knew going into today that this was a possibility as Paramount recently hired Jack Reacher director Chris McQuarrie to helm a spin-off of sorts called Without Remorse.
Since the spin-off was not abiding by the typical set of rules and actually started to build its foundations at the same time as the untitled Jack Ryan project, it became evident that a cross-over was in the cards yet that remained unconfirmed. Instead, confirmation comes today as Kevin Costner, who has been rumored to be in talks for the role of Jack Ryan’s mentor William Harper, has signed a big deal to join not just the franchise launcher. He will in fact also be supporting in Without Remorse under the same character and could potentially receive his own spin-off at a later date.
According to Deadline, Without Remorse is not trying to be a traditional spin-off as it might even aim to outdo its origin. Paramount is hot on Tom Hardy for the central role which has been compared to Willem Dafoe’s character in 1994′s Clear and Present Danger. Hardy of course is best known for playing Bane in The Dark Knight Rises and has credits that include Inception, Warrior, This Means War, and the soon to release Lawless.
While the addition of Tom Hardy is up in the air, what is considered concrete at this time is that the cast of Jack Ryan now consists of Chris Pine, Kevin Costner, Keira Knightley, and Kenneth Branagh. There is currently no release date at the moment, but the studio wants it out the door next year which should be easy to accomplish given that everything is good to go.
Read More: ‘Jack Ryan’ Reboot Casts Keira Knightley Opposite Chris Pine