After Jason Momoa left the production, Helldivers now seems to have found a suitable replacement in Alan Ritchson, known for his role as former military police major Jack Reacher in Amazon Prime’s eponymous TV show.
This is according to Deadline, which writes that Ritchson is “in talks” to star in the Helldivers adaptation directed by Justin Lin. Apparently, Ritchson is set to “play one of the Helldivers,” with other roles to be disclosed down the line. The movie, as announced, will release on Nov. 10 next year, but details remain rather scarce despite its relatively imminent launch.
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The film’s director, Justin Lin, is best known for his work on Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift, which is arguably one of the better movies in that series, as well as for directing the first two episodes of True Detective‘s second season—again, arguably the better parts of that season’s run. He worked on a myriad of different projects over the last three decades but hasn’t done much in the video game adaptation department.
The movie is set to be produced by Sony itself, which also published Helldivers 2, as well as PlayStation Productions.
Ritchson is basically the perfect role to cast in any military environment, due primarily to his commanding screen presence and imposing figure. He also has a penchant for comedy, believe it or not, having played comic relief characters in the past. Still, I see him as a much better option than Momoa, who’s better suited to fantasy and similar genres, rather than a militaristic science-fiction setting.
