Robert Ludlum’s The Ambler Warning is headed to the small screen, with Jessica Biel attached to star, Deadline reports.
Ludlum’s novel was initially an incomplete manuscript; it was finished by a ghostwriter and published by St. Martin’s in 2005, four years after Ludlum’s death. The book follows Hal Ambler, a government agent being held at a psychiatric hospital although he is sane; he escapes from the facility and tries to figure out how he ended up there in the first place. A critic for Kirkus called it a “perfect substitute for the in-flight movie.”
Paramount Television Studios is developing the series adaptation, which will star Biel (The Rules of Attraction, Total Recall) as the gender-swapped protagonist, Erica Ambler. Jason Horwitch (Rubicon, Southland) will write the series and serve as showrunner. Biel and Horwitch will be among the series’ executive producers.
Ludlum’s books have been adapted for the screen numerous times. His 1980 novel The Bourne Identity formed the basis for the blockbuster 2002 film of the same name, directed by Doug Liman and starring Matt Damon as spy Jason Bourne. Damon reprised the role in four more movies in the franchise, most recently Jason Bourne, directed by Paul Greengrass and released in 2016.
More films in that franchise seem likely to come. In August, NBCUniversal announced that it had acquired the rights to Ludlum’s Bourne series, with Universal Pictures president Peter Cramer saying, “We’re energized to continue expanding the Bourne universe into the future with exciting new stories for global audiences.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
