The latest attempt to bring the Joes to the big screen may have found the man to portray one of its most iconic characters.
Variety reports that Henry Golding — best known for his turns in Crazy Rich Asians and A Simple Favour — has entered early talks to play Snake Eyes in the upcoming spinoff-slash-reboot Hasbro has planned for the wider cinematic universe of movies based on its myriad toy properties.
Robert Schwentke (RED, Allegiant) will direct the film, while Beauty and the Beast and Huntsman: Winter’s War scribe Evan Spiliotopoulos will handle the script.
Snake Eyes, of course, is one of the original mercenaries that made up the Joes — a deadly commando who went on to train in martial arts alongside his longtime frenemy Storm Shadow in the Arashikage ninja clan. Eventually, after dramatically parting ways with his comrade and his family, Storm Shadow found himself joining the villainous Cobra — fighting Snake Eyes and the Joes in a relationship that has seen the two ninjas be everything from brothers to bitter enemies.
This isn’t the first bit of G.I. Joe news we’ve had recently — last week word broke that a new GI. Joe ensemble was also in the works alongside this Snake Eyes spinoff, suggesting that Hasbro’s plans for rebooting the movie franchise have gained new life. If Golding does sign up to don Snake Eye’s iconic, incredibly cool, and deeply impractical ninja mask, those plans will take a major step out of the shadows.