Syfy Insider Exclusive

Create a free profile to get unlimited access to exclusive videos, sweepstakes, and more!

Sign Up For Free to View
SYFY WIRE Movies

Regé-Jean Page channelling his inner Bond for The Saint reboot

By Josh Grossberg
Rege-Jean Page

With Regé-Jean Page's newfound stardom in Netflix's hit series Bridgerton sparking talk he could be the next James Bond, perhaps we should consider this next project a warm up.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, the U.K. hearthrob has signed on to star in and executive produce Paramount's reboot of The Saint, with playwright and actor Kwame Kwei-Armah set to pen the screenplay.

Based on the long-running franchise of books and short stories by Leslie Charteris, the movie will see Page assume big screen leading man status as Simon Templar, the shadowy, globetrotting English English adventurer cum detective and a master-of-disguise, who's willing to skirt the law in order to take down all sorts of bad guys -- from corrupt politicians and greedy capitalists to mafiosos and Nazi thugs.

Charteris began writing the mystery series in the 1920s and continued to hatch potboilers for the next 40 years. Over that period, The Saint spawned a slew of movies and a popular '60s British spy-fi thriller TV series starring the late, great Roger Moore. With his debonair wink and a smile, the thesp's stint as Templar proved irresistible to Bond producers, who famously tapped Moore to succeed Sean Connery as 007 in the '70s and '80s.

Since then, other actors have tried their hand at the mystery gentleman whose calling card at the scene of his "crimes" is a stick figure with a halo over his head. Most notable was Val Kilmer, who starred in a 1997 film that had little to do with Charteris' novels, was panned by critics, and garnered only moderate success at the box office.

Since then, there have been various ill-fated attempts to revive the Robin Hood-like hero. Most recently, the studio attached Chris Pine for a movie being directed by Dexter Fletcher (Rocketman), but that iteration has since been scrapped.

No word on the plot for the Page-led version, and it's unknown whether Fletcher remains as helmer, as he's currently busy taking the reigns on Paramount+'s making-of The Godfather limited series, The Offer. The new Saint is being produced by Lorenzo di Bonaventura and Brad Kreboy while the late Robert Evans will receive a posthumous credit.

Along with getting into the spy game, Page is also attached to Paramount and eOne's new Dungeons and Dragons flick opposite Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, and Justin Smith. He's also set to appear in the Russo Brothers' upcoming action thriller, The Gray Man, with Chris Evans and Ryan Gosling.

Read more about: