Universal eyes Dwayne Johnson for potential new franchise

The Hollywood Reporter has a story about former WWE champion Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson being in discussion to star as the leading role in Universal’s upcoming movie titled The Janson Directive, based on a Robert Ludlum novel.

While no writer or director has been chosen yet as the project is still in its very early stages, Universal is hoping to turn this into a potential franchise with The Rock leading the charge.

The story is about an ex-Navy Seal and covert ops specialist who now works as as security consultant and when a rescue operation goes down the drain, he is targeted for termination and must go on the run to clear his name.

Johnson’s next movie out in theatres will be Hercules which comes out on July 25. He has Fast & Furious 7 and San Andreas also lined up for next year as well as two new TV shows, a reality show for TNT, and a dramedy titled Ballin for HBO.