Ryan Phillippe to Star in ‘Shooter’ Remake for USA Network

Ryan Phillippe is ready to step into Mark Wahlberg‘s shoes.

Following a lengthy deal-making process, the Secrets and Lies alum has been tapped to star in USA Network’s Shooter, with the adaptation of the 2007 film officially moving to pilot.

Based on Stephen Hunter‘s best-selling novel Point of Impact, and the 2007 Paramount feature that starred Wahlberg, Phillippe will take on the role of Bob Lee Swagger, an off-the-grid former Marine sniper who is coaxed into action to thwart the killing of the president. Ultimately double-crossed and framed for the attempt, he must call upon all the skills he acquired as a decorated Marine sharpshooter to avoid capture while hunting down and exposing the traitors who set him up.

Phillippe will also serve as a producer on the project — which moved from Vancouver to film in Los Angeles so the actor (who turned down the initial offer) could be closer to his family. 

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The Paramount Television and Universal Cable Productions co-production is being written by John Hlavin (The Shield), who will exec produce alongside Wahlberg (Boardwalk Empire, Ballers) and his Closest to the Hole Productions, as well as Leverage Entertainment’s Stephen Levinson (Ballers) and Lorenzo di Bonaventura (Transformers). Simon Cellan Jones (Ballers) will direct the pilot.

Phillippe most recently starred on ABC anthology Secrets and Lies. His credits include Damages and Catch Hell, his directorial debut that he also co-wrote, produced and starred in. Phillippe is repped by WME and MGMT Entertainment and Sloane Offer.

Shooter follows the box office and critical success of Clint Eastwood’s similarly themed feature American Sniper. The genre has been seeing a resurgence of late on the small screen as well, with NBC also greenlighting The Reaper, based on the memoir by former U.S. Army sniper Nicholas Irving.

For USA, Shooter joins a pilot roster that also includes Falling Water, Paradise Pictures and Poor Richard’s Almanack, as USA has been abandoning its “blue skies” fare in favor of darker-themed dramas including Mr. Robot and Complications, the former of which already renewed for a second season. 

Meanwhile, for Paramount Television, Shooter becomes the company’s latest scripted entry, joining Fox’s Grease: Live, TNT’s The Alienist and American Gigolo, the latter of which does not have a network attached.

On the development side, feature film (and TV) remakes continue to be in high demand as broadcast and cable networks look for proven formats in a bid to lure viewers and cut through the increasingly crowded scripted landscape.