Author Greg Hurwitz’s (The Book of Henry) bestselling Orphan X book series is heading to the small screen, with Deadline reporting that Brad Weston’s Makeready and Justin Lin’s Perfect Storm Entertainment are developing a drama based upon the thriller novels.
Orphan X follows Evan Smoak, “who after being pulled from his home at the age of 12 is trained in the Orphan Program as a secret government assassin. After he escapes the program he creates a new life for himself, until he is forced to complete one last mission: saving the final Orphan, as the same shadowy government forces that ran the Orphan Program attempt to wipe out any shred of evidence that it ever existed.”
“True franchise characters in this genre such as Jack Reacher or Jason Bourne rarely come along, and Gregg created a really modern version of that,” said Weston. “The novels progress and lay out really perfectly with twists and evolving personal stakes that the plan is for each book to be a new season.“
The rights to Orphan X were originally picked up by Warner Bros., who was eyeing Bradley Cooper to produce and star in a feature film adaptation, which was to be scripted by Hurwitz. However, the rights recently expired, with Makeready snapping them up in a competitive bidding war.