There’s an insatiable appetite to adapt graphic novels into live-action, with everything from Jupiter’s Legacy to The Umbrella Academy to Warrior Nun hitting screens (to name but a few). Now writer Charles Ardai and artist Ang Hor Kheng’s Gun Honey will be joining them, which is especially impressive as the first issue doesn’t hit comic book store shelves until September.
The limited series tells the tale of Joanna Tan, a Singaporean weapons expert who is “the best in the world at acquiring her clients the perfect weapon at the perfect moment”. As the story kicks off her actions inadvertently lead to a dangerous criminal escaping a high-security prison, with the US Government promptly enlisting Tan to track them down. And, along the way, it seems she’s set to learn some dark secrets about her own past.
It’s still early days for the project, but Screen Rant is reporting that Private Eyes and The Dead Zone creators Piller/Segan are developing the show alongside Malaysian producers Double Vision. Their Head of Production Min Lam waxed lyrical about the quality of the graphic novel:
“I started reading Gun Honey and I didn’t put it down till I’d finished the whole thing. Finding a fresh take on the femme fatale is not easy to do, but Charles did exactly that with Joanna and Gun Honey and as Malaysians, we are incredibly excited to work on bringing an authentic South East Asian character to the screen in a big way. And, to be able to do it with Charles and our partners at Piller/Segan is just the icing on the cake!”
The comics’ writer seems over the moon and given that Gun Honey already seems to be a hit who can blame him? When asked about the plans, Ardai said:
The heart of Gun Honey is Joanna Tan – who she is and where she comes from – and I can’t imagine better partners to bring her story to life with authenticity and incredible filmmaking talent than Double Vision. I am a huge fan of their work on The Bridge and can’t wait to see what they have in store for Joanna. And the opportunity to work with Piller/Segan again is a joy: working with Lloyd [Segan] and his team to make Haven was an extraordinary experience.
Gun Honey #1 will be published worldwide by Titan Comics on September 22, 2021, with subsequent chapters following monthly and a collected edition graphic novel released in 2022. No word yet on when this TV show will begin shooting, but it sounds like they’re going full steam ahead so let’s hope we hear more details soon.
