G.I. Joe: Snake Eyes Spinoff Adds The Expanse's Steven Allerick

After some rocky success on the big screen in past years, the G.I. Joe franchise is getting a bit [...]

After some rocky success on the big screen in past years, the G.I. Joe franchise is getting a bit of a fresh start, in the form of a spinoff film centered around Snake Eyes. The Snake Eyes film is set to dive into the masked assassin's origin story, and now we know who will be playing a key part in it. According to a new report from Deadline, Steven Allerick is set to play the father of the titular character (Crazy Rich Asians' Henry Golding) in the spinoff film. Allerick previously played Simba in multiple theatrical productions of The Lion King and is set to play Benji Draper in the upcoming fourth season of The Expanse. He has also had roles in Supernatural, Nancy Drew, and Westworld.

Allerick's character is sure to play an interesting part in the narrative of Snake Eyes, as his murder essentially sets in motion the events of the film. The plot is expected to follow Snake Eyes searching for the man who murdered his father, which leads him to travel to Japan and train with the Arashikage ninja clan.

The cast of Snake Eyes also includes Samara Weaving (Ready or Not) as Scarlett, Ursula Corbero (La casa de papel) as The Baroness, Iko Uwais (The Raid) as Hard Master, and Andrew Koji (Warrior) as Storm Shadow. Haruka Abe (Emerald City) has been cast in a currently-unknown role.

Robert Schwentke, director of the final two Divergent movies, is set to helm Snake Eyes, with a script from Beauty and the Beast writer Evan Spiliotopoulos. Producers on the project will include Lorenzo di Bonaventura, Erik Howsam, Brian Goldner, and Greg Mooradian.

"We are going to the origin story," di Bonaventura said in 2018. "As you know in the comic book, you saw his face. And it is, I'll say, the formation of a hero."

While there's no telling exactly what the long-term plan is for this new Snake Eyes movie, some have hoped that the spinoff film could culminate in a full-fledged G.I. Joe reboot -- and possibly a crossover with one of Paramount's other franchises, the Transformers.

"I might have been the one that started that fire," Bumblebee star John Cena said in a previous interview. "Don't look into that any more than a fan would be enjoying (it). I just think you have these two storied franchises that, especially because of the way this one was written, damn near rub up against each other. And I think it would be really cool, in the days of big franchise universes, to see these things collide and coexist on the same screen."

snake eyes steven allerick
(Photo: Harmony Gerber/Getty Images)

Are you excited to see Steven Allerick join Snake Eyes? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Snake Eyes will arrive in theaters on October 16, 2020.

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