Chris Pratt’s Cowboy Ninja Viking Adaptation Nabs a New Pair of Writers

Chris Pratt is already a superstar with his successful Jurassic World and Guardians of the Galaxy franchises (not to mention a sizeable role in the latest Avengers movie), but it appears he won’t be content until he has another comic book-based movie property in his stable, putting him on par with Chris Evans and his Fantastic Four and Captain America movies and hot on the heels of Ryan Reynolds with his Green Lantern, R.I.P.D. and Deadpool movies.

Like Reynolds’ turn from the pop art flop Green Lantern to the raunchy R-rated Deadpool, Pratt is going for something different in tone from Guardians‘ space opera (space honky-tonk is probably more accurate) feel with Cowboy Ninja Viking. The movie is being adapted from the 10-issue comic book series created by writer A.J. Lieberman and artist Riley Rossmo and focuses on Pratt’s titular character, a mental patient-turned-hired killer with three distinct personalities known as a Triplet who tracks down and stops rogue Triplets.

The project, with Game of Thrones helmer Michelle MacLaren attached to direct, seemingly stalled out after Craig Mazin (The Hangover III) was hired to work on the original screenplay adaptation by Zombieland writers Paul Wernick & Rhett Reese. However, THR just revealed that the project is moving forward once again with the hiring of not one, but two, new writers with very distinct styles: Dan Mazeau (Wrath of the Titans) and Ryan Engle (Rampage). Apparently, Universal hopes that “fusing them into a team” will help them crack the script where their predecessors could not.