Keanu Reeves will star in “Maelstrom,” a Netflix action film from Carry-On director Jaume Collet-Serra, replacing Reacher actor Alan Ritchson in the lead role, according to digitalspy.com.
The film centres on a Federal Marshal tasked with protecting the fiancée of an arms dealer seeking witness protection as she prepares to testify against him. As a hurricane closes in, the pair must fend off both the elements and the armed men pursuing them.
“Maelstrom” was originally sold as a spec script in 1993 by former Warner Bros executive Jeff Robinov, who oversaw franchises including The Dark Knight and The Hangover. It is written by the late screenwriter Gregory Fitzpatrick, with his first draft polished by How to Rob a Bank’s Mark Bianculli. At the time, Variety described the script as “Die Hard in a hurricane,” reporting it sold for between $225,000 and $625,000, roughly $500,000 to $1.4 million adjusted for inflation over 33 years.
The project is the first to emerge from Robinov’s deal with Netflix.
Reeves remains attached to the John Wick franchise, though not in the role fans might expect. The actor, who has played the hitman across four films since 2014, will voice the character in an untitled John Wick video game for PlayStation 5. Reeves is also involved in production, as is franchise director Chad Stahelski. There is no confirmation that he will appear in a greenlit John Wick 5, following Wick’s death in 2023’s Chapter 4.
The casting places Reeves in a high-profile Netflix action project and marks the first title from Robinov’s production deal with the streamer, three decades after the script was first written.