Paramount Pictures has been filling roles left, right and center ahead of the November start date for Jack Reacher 2, with Danika Yarosh and How I Met Your Mother alum Cobie Smulders both tapped for the action sequel. One part that had been left vacant, however, was that of the lead villain, though Variety reports that the studio has finally found the actor who will be causing all sorts of problems for Tom Cruise’s returning super solider come next year – that is, Black Swan and Quantum Break star Patrick Heusinger.
Joining the nascent project as “The Hunter,” Paramount has offered up precious few details about Heusinger’s true identity in the actioner, lest fans of Lee Child’s source material identify his character ahead of time.
Picking up the directing torch for Jack Reacher 2 is Ed Zwick – in lieu of Christopher McQuarrie – who is also on board to pen the script in tandem with co-writer Marshall Herskovitz. It’s understood to be a reworked version of the original produced by Richard Wenk, drawing inspiration from Child’s novel Never Go Back. Thrusting Cruise’s titular agent back to his former military base in Virginia, the storyline effectively pulls the rug out from beneath the reader, holding Jack Reacher responsible for crimes he can’t remember committing.
As a matter of fact, utilizing Child’s Never Go Back had been on the cards for some time, and was all but confirmed when Heroes Reborn star Danika Yarosh joined the cast – the novel has Reacher partner up with a young female character. Retaining the anthology format of the source material, it’s unlikely that Zwick will reference much from 2012’s original actioner, though it’ll be interesting to keep track of how the director’s vision pans out over the course of the next few months.
Production is due to get underway on Jack Reacher 2 in November ahead of a theatrical release on October 21, 2o16.