Jason Statham is the latest movie star making the jump to the small screen. Gaumont International Television announced Thursday that the “Transporter” star will headline drama series “Viva La Madness,” based on the novel by J.J. Connolly.
The drama does not yet have a distribution or network partner.
Statham will play the anonymous hero of the story, who is stranded in the Caribbean itching for the criminal life he left behind — but he’s still a wanted man back home. Soon he joins forces with two robust London gangsters: the menacing Sonny King and his paranoid partner Roy “Twitchy” Burns.
“Viva La Madness, with its riveting characters and twisting storyline, is a volatile cocktail of action and comedy that only J.J. Connolly can create,” said Gaumont International TV CEO Katie O’Connell Marsh in a statement. “Jason Statham, known for his roles in the Transporter trilogy, ‘Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels,’ ‘Snatch,’ ‘The Bank Job,’ as well as the recent ‘Furious 7’ and ‘Spy,’ brings such strength and credibility to his characters but also has an effortless shade of vulnerability that gives him so much dimension on screen.”
Statham is represented by CAA and Current Entertainment.