The 1984 adaptation of Stephen King’s Firestarter was only Drew Barrymore’s third film — but it, along with E.T., catapulted the 9-year-old to stardom. Those are some big, fiery shoes for a new young actor to fill, but the team behind the Firestarter remake thinks they found the right spark in Ryan Kiera Armstrong.
Armstrong, who’s already had plenty of horror experience with roles in American Horror Story and It: Chapter II, has been cast as Charlie, the young girl with the ability to create and manipulate fire, who’s perpetually on the run with her father Andy after the U.S. government decides it wants her power for military purposes. She joins Zac Efron, who plays Andy, and Plains Cree actor Michael Greyeyes as John Rainbird, as the assassin sent to track them. We also have our first look at Armstrong as Charlie, which… looks like a regular photo of Ryan Kiera Armstrong.
Still, the new Firestarter has a hell of a pedigree: it’s produced by Jason Blum and Akiva Goldsman, and directed by Keith Thomas, who made the critically acclaimed horror movie The Vigil in 2019. Firestarter doesn’t have a release date yet, but given it only started filming on May 25, sometime in 2022 is a rather safe bet.