The Saint is returning to screens for a new film adventure helmed by Rocketman director Dexter Fletcher.
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Fletcher was pursued by Paramount for the project following the critical and commercial success of his Elton John biopic, Variety reports.
The Saint was originally created by author Leslie Charteris for a series of books published between 1928 and 1963 – real name Simon Templar, he is a Robin Hood-inspired criminal and thief-for-hire.
Prior to playing James Bond, Roger Moore famously starred as Templar in a popular television series from 1962 to 1969, with Ian Ogilvy taking on the role for Return of the Saint from 1978-1979.
Val Kilmer fronted a previous big-screen version in 1997 to a mixed response, with Adam Rayner starring in the character's most recent screen outing, a 2013 TV pilot that was shelved but eventually released direct-to-video in 2017.
Dexter Fletcher Dave J Hogan / Getty Images
ITV was also developing a pilot for a Saint reboot in 2015 with writers Ed Whitmore (Silent Witness) and Chris Lunt (Prey), but this failed to materialise.
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The new movie version will be written by Seth Grahame-Smith (The Lego Batman Movie), with Paramount apparently eyeing the film as the possible first movie in a franchise.
Morgan Jeffery is the Digital Editor for Radio Times, overseeing all editorial output across the brand's digital platforms. He was previously TV Editor at Digital Spy and has featured as a TV expert on BBC Breakfast, BBC Radio 5 Live and Sky Atlantic.
