It’s been a heck of a year for actor Henry Golding. Last year he had a meteoric breakthrough as the leading man in Crazy Rich Asians, and since then he star is on the rise. He recently joined the cast for Guy Ritchie’s crime caper The Gentlemen with Colin Farrell, Matthew McConaughey and Hugh Grant. A new trailer for Last Christmas, his upcoming rom-com with Emilia Clarke, just dropped today.
But even more exciting news today is the fact that Golding is in talks to play Snake Eyes in a G.I. Joe spinoff movie for Paramount. Both Variety and The Wrap posted the news at the exact same time so proper credit goes to…Golding’s agent for leaking it to the trades. Round of applause on a job well done.
Robert Schwentke (RED, The Captain) is set to direct Snake Eyes with Brian Goldner producing. Working on the script is Evan Spiliotopoulos, who wrote Beauty and the Beast and The Huntsman: Winter’s War.
Fans of the original toys and cartoon series might be reading about this casting and scratching their heads, however. Snake Eyes is a deadly ninja commando in the G.I. Joe universe – awesome role, right? Right. Except there’s one big problem: In his all-black ensemble, Snake Eyes never speaks and he never uncovers his face. Rendering someone with Golding’s charisma mute for an entire movie, as well as covering up his dashing good looks, is, well…why even cast Golding in the first place? It’s also hard to believe Paramount would risk building a separate spinoff franchise on the back of a character who never speaks and whose face you never see. I’d wager Paramount’s vision for the spinoff will be a very different, more human and relatable version of Snake Eyes than we’ve ever seen, particularly as the film is set to be an origin story.
The story will reportedly follow Snake Eyes in his early years as he works to join the Arashikage Clan. The Japanese ninja clan are the quintessential elusive ninjas and ghostlike assassins; Snake Eyes didn’t later become Team G.I. Joe’s most deadly member for no reason. Will we see other team members of the G.I. Joe franchise in this origin story? Perhaps. It’s a sure bet we’ll see how he meets and befriends his pet wolf, Timber (think Ghost to Snake Eyes’ Jon Snow). We’ll also likely definitely see how he and Storm Shadow go from ninja blood brothers to sworn archenemies.
With TV series like Marvel’s Iron Fist and Daredevil, Into the Badlands, and Wu Assassins, and films like the John Wick franchise and the recently-announced Shang-Chi, a renewed appreciation for martial arts and the kung-fu genre has blossomed. Simply put, ninjas are cool again. Word is that Paramount and Hasbro are working together to figure out how to update the series for a modern audience and put a fresh twist on it. If they capitalize on the resurgence of interest in ninjas and the martial arts in entertainment, they could establish the spinoff as the one great martial arts franchise in Hollywood right now.
No word on a release date yet, but we’ll let you know as soon as there is one.
