The Hunger Games saga director Francis Lawrence is embarking on an odyssey. Homer’s Odyssey. (Insert laugh track here.)
With Mockingjay, Part 2 wrapping up The Hunger Games saga later this year, Lionsgate needs to find a new big project to keep them afloat.
And the movie studio has made a surprising move: they’ll be adapting Homer’s iconic, epic homecoming story The Odyssey.
Keeping it within the family, Deadline reports that Francis Lawrence has been selected to helm this “grand-scale retelling of history’s greatest voyage home.”
Related: First Mockingjay, Part 2 teaser trailer, poster released
And Lawrence isn’t the only Hunger Games team member to transition from Panem to ancient Greece. Mockingjay co-writer Peter Craig will pen the screenplay for this epic, while Hunger Games saga producer Nina Jacobson will stay on for the new adventure.
Of course this isn’t the first time The Odyssey has been adapted by Hollywood; much like the Arthurian Legends — and Cinderella, apparently — it’s a story that just never goes out of style.
But that doesn’t mean there isn’t still a lot left to explore. The Odyssey follows Greek hero Odysseus, whose perilous journey home from the Trojan War is, quite literally, the stuff of legend.
Odysseus (or Ulysses) tangles with the Olympian Gods on his 10-year journey; he is taken captive by the nymph Calypso, stealthily escapes a Cyclops, and obtains a bag of wind (which we’re pretty certain eventually inspired the whoopee cushion).
Considering the lukewarm reception of Ridley Scott’s Exodus: Gods and Kings, we’re surprised Lionsgate is pushing this as their next big project. It’s certainly a far cry from the Hunger Games and Divergent series.
We’ll keep you updated on casting news — it’s bound to come together pretty quickly, seeing as production is set to start early next year. One can only dream that Sean Bean might consider reprising his role from the surprisingly awesome 2004 movie Troy…
