Chad Stahelski has spent much of his filmmaking time (at least when he's not producing other people's movies) on John Wick franchise. Yet while he's looking to spread his wings further, he's still staying with weapons and combat, making a deal to direct Black Samurai for Netflix.
The new film would adapt the eponymous book series by Marc Olden, which introduces Robert Sand, an American soldier in Japan who learns the ways of the most powerful martial arts, and becomes The Black Samurai, embarking on a mission to stop dangerous forces who threaten everything he holds dear.
Back in 2017, it looked like National Treasure writing duo Cormac and Marianne Wibberley were going to run a TV adaptation for US cable channel Starz with Common starring and Jerry Bruckheimer producing, but nothing has yet come of it. The character was previously brought to screens by Enter The Dragon veteran Jim Kelly in a 1976 film.
Leigh Dana Jackson, who was recently part of the writing team for Apple TV+ sci-fi epic series Foundation (and worked on Netflix's Raising Dion), is aboard to write the script for the new film.
Stahelski is an executive producer on Wick spin-off series The Continental and has John Wick Chapter 4 due on 24 March next year.
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