Regé-Jean Page, who broke out in Netflix’s Bridgerton, has signed on to star in a film reboot of The Saint, which is in the works at Paramount. Playwright and actor Kwame Kwei-Armah has also been brought in to write a new draft of the script for the adventure thriller.
The Saint is based on Leslie Charteris‘ early 20th-century adventure novels that revolve around a mysterious man named Simon Templar taking down criminals. The character was adapted into many mediums, with Roger Moore starring in the 1960s British TV series before he was James Bond, while Val Kilmer starred in Paramount’s 1997 film.
Paramount had previously announced a reboot of the film back in 2016 with Lorenzo di Bonaventura producing and Chris Pine in talks to star. Then just last year Dexter Fletcher was circling the project as a director, but there hasn’t been any news since, so it’s not clear if he’s still on board to helm the film.
This could be a huge coup for Page, who won’t appear in the second season of Bridgerton (to the huge disappointment of fans) but is setting up various other interesting roles.
This is his second project at Paramount following the upcoming Dungeons & Dragons film, while he’s also lined up a role alongside Ryan Gosling and Chris Evans in Netflix’s huge blockbuster The Gray Man.
The Saint is one of those long-running characters that hasn’t been relevant for a long time. The 1997 film performed solidly at the box office but hasn’t retained any cultural relevance. So Paramount will be crossing their fingers that this reboot can introduce a younger demographic to Charteris’ mysterious protagonist and, of course, kick off a franchise.
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