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SYFY WIRE Adam Wingard

Adam Wingard to get 'Hardcore' in adaptation of Robert Kirkman comic for Universal Pictures

By Nivea Serrao
Adam Wingard

Adam Wingard successfully navigated Godzilla going up against King Kong and the Death Note, but now he's up against body-hopping soldiers. According to Deadline, the director will be adapting the Skybound/Image comic Hardcore for Universal Pictures, the story outline of which was written by The Walking Dead creator (and Invincible co-creator) Robert Kirkman, who also created the comic series the movie will be based on, along with Marc Silvestri. 

The comic focuses on the titular Hardcore Program, which allows its agents to hijack the body of anyone on Earth — essentially turning them into human drones — so they can get to targets that regular soldiers can't get close to. However, when one of their top agents gets stranded in a body and becomes the program's number one target, they only have 72 hours to figure out who has hijacked the program itself. The first volume of the series was written by Andy Diggle with art by Alessandro Vitti, while the second volume features Brandon Thomas and Francis Portela at the helm. 

Wingard will also be co-writing the script for the film, along with Will Simmons (Day Men). Skybound will produce the project, along with Wingard's own company, Montauk Chair. Kirkman will also serve as a producer for Skybound, along with David Alpert, Bryan Furst, and Sean Furst, while Wingard will executive produce. Universal Pictures' Executive Vice President of Production Matt Reilly will oversee the production of the sci-fi thriller. 

Hardcore Volume 1 cover

This is the latest of Kirkman's comic creations to make the leap to the screen. The Walking Dead is set to premiere its 11th and final season later this summer (Aug. 22), while its spin-off Fear the Walking Dead has been renewed for its 7th season, and AMC is set to produce three standalone films that will not only expand the universe of the movies, but will also catch up with Rick Grimes (played by Andrew Lincoln), who unbeknownst to his fellow survivors, is still alive. 

Elsewhere, following the success of its first season on Prime Video, Amazon Studios has renewed the animated superhero series Invincible for a second and third season

No release date has been set for Hardcore, but you can catch up on the comic series here