A former James Bond and a former Batman have played him, now British hunk James Purefoy ("Rome," "Resident Evil," "Vanity Fair") is stepping into the shoes of Simon Templar.

A posting on the official site of Leslie Charteris, the late Chinese-English crime novelist who created and penned over a hundred adventures in book and TV form for her gentleman thief character The Saint, reports that a new incarnation is on the way.

The posting says "we can confirm that pre-production has started on a two-hour pilot film for a new series of The Saint. It will star James Purefoy as the Saint and will shoot in Berlin and Australia in April next year. Film will be produced by William J. Macdonald, Geoffrey Moore and Jorge Zamacona."

Numerous films throughout the 30's and 40's were produced with the character, George Sanders taking on the role regularly at that time. Yet the most famous incarnation was the long running 60's TV series with Roger Moore who of course went on to become James Bond.

The most recent incarnation of the character was Philip Noyce's 1997 film thriller "The Saint" with Val Kilmer in the title role. More information on Purefoy's casting is up at Saint.Org