Several years ago Fox 21 and Hulu announced that “John Wick” creator Derek Kolstad will write the pilot for a TV series based on the bestselling “Hitman” video game franchise.
While the recent trilogy of games has been highly acclaimed, the two “Hitman” movies to date – one with Timothy Olyphant, the other with Rupert Friend – have been disasters.
One thing both had in common however is getting the Agent 47 look right – namely completely bald with a barcode on the back of his head, a dark suit with a red tie and some snazzy gunware.
Speaking with Collider recently whilst out doing promotional rounds for Marvel’s “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier” series (which he also wrote), Kolstad spoke more about his work writing the first two scripts for the franchise which will be more akin to Jason Bourne from the sounds of it. However it will also have some old school cinema classic influences:
“I did it very much like The Third Man meets Three Days in the Condor. You’re introduced to a guy who’s very much the hitman we know from the games, but he’s got a full head of hair, and he’s independent. He has a handler, he’s got a life, he’s very much that early ’80s, late ’70s assassin we read about in the books, right?
But at a certain point, he gets a gig, and that gig unveils the reality that no choice he’s ever made has been his own. And of course, the show ends with him at a mirror, finding hidden under his skin, the barcode.
So suddenly it becomes a mystery of ‘who am I, really?’ [Jason] Bourne did that excellently. This is more of, ‘what is true in regards to the people in my life? What has been manufactured, what are thoughts, etc.’ It’s the nature versus nurture of it all.”
Kolstad is also an executive producer on the series, but he’s not clear when it’ll happen as they’re still searching for a showrunner. Kolstad isn’t going to take on that role but says he will partner up with the showrunner because: “I want to help build the car, staff the pit, hand the keys over to the driver and just be there to refuel and take care of the car.”
