Tradecraft: Paramount Plans Alex Hawke Spy Series Based on Ted Bell Books

Deadline reports that Paramount has acquired the rights to Ted Bell's series of novels about MI6 agent Lord Alex Hawke with hopes to launch a new spy franchise. (They already have Mission: Impossible and Jack Ryan, but the latter is moving to television after the last unsuccessful attempt at a theatrical reboot.) The studio has set veteran espionage specialist Kurt Wimmer (Salt, The Recruit) to pen the adaptation, and Lorenzo di Bonaventura (RED, Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit) will produce. Di Bonaventura has a few other spy movies percolating right now, including Michael Apted's Unlocked and Lionsgate's American Assassin (another potential franchise starter, based on Vince Flynn's Mitch Rapp series). The trade doesn't reveal which of Bell's books the first movie will be based on, if any. I have to admit, I haven't read any of Bell's books, but it sounds like I probably should.