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Former professional wrestler John Cena, who is now pursuing an acting career, is allegedly in talks to star in a film adaptation of cult games franchise Duke Nukem.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Cena is currently in negotiations for a film set up by Paramount and produced by Platinum Dunes, the production company created by Michael Bay, Brad Fuller and Andrew Form.
That’s about all we know about the project so far, with the publication adding that “no director is on board at this stage” and that “a search for a writer will begin soon to develop a script for what is intended to be a starring vehicle for Cena.”
The Duke Nukem movie project initially started at Dimension Films but the rights expired and Paramount picked up the film rights from developer Gearbox Software. The latter also ran into some troubles to retain rights to the franchise a few years ago: Gearbox acquired the rights to Duke Nukem Forever from 3D Realms back in 2010 but relations between the two developers soured in 2013 when 3D Realms kicked off a lawsuit against Gearbox allegedly unpaid DNF royalties. This ended up in a settlement back in August 2015.
Duke Nukem Forever is the latest title in the 27 years-old franchise, which launched to very poor reviews and sales back in 2011.
