With Furious 7 a box office behemoth and his disaster epic San Andreas positioned as one of Warner Bros.’ biggest tentpoles in the summer season, Dwayne Johnson has never been bigger, and that’s not about to change anytime soon. The actor has signed on to star in a DreamWorks’ sci-fi action comedy titled Alpha Squad Seven, which will send The Rock into the one territory he has yet to conquer: space.
Described as a “four-quadrant action-comedy adventure set in space,” Alpha Squad Seven has been likened to Independence Day, Armageddon and, most tellingly, Guardians of the Galaxy, with Johnson taking on the role of a “handsome, charming, ass kicking, flawed and slightly cranky [sic] of a hero leading the one and only Alpha Squad into space,” according to the actor’s Instagram post confirming the pic. Though Johnson is a far cry from a goofy underdog like Chris Pratt, perhaps his muscles and ample charisma will provide an equally refreshing take on the space adventurer.
Outside of Johnson’s character details, the plot is being kept under lock and key, though what’s really intriguing is word from The Hollywood Reporter that writers Jeremiah Friedman and Nick Palmer (The Karate Kid 2) hooked FlynnPictureCompany prexy Beau Flynn and his exec Wendy Jacobson on the project in just one sentence. They then brought it to Johnson, who fast-tracked it through development and ignited a bidding war when it hit the market.
Alpha Squad Seven is intended to launch a franchise for DreamWorks while also acting as a two-hander between Johnson and a yet-to-be-cast actor. It’s one of several exciting projects on the way for Johnson, who’s having another banner year with San Andreas and Furious 7. The star is set to topline HBO comedy Ballers, premiering next month, and he’s also prepping to roll cameras on a Kevin Hart comedy called Central Intelligence, which we can only hope will find him reprising the role of Agent 23.
