Fresh off his Oscar nomination for Elvis, Austin Butler will star in and produce the epic crime drama City on Fire for Sony 3000. It will be based on the first in a trilogy of Don Winslow novels. Deadline reports that Butler will star as aspiring New England gangster Danny Ryan, who matures from street thug to ruthless gang leader as he battles rival gangs, the local police, and the federal government.

In the book, which spans decades and draws inspiration from the epics of Ancient Greek literature, a modern-day Helen of Troy brings the two reigning crime families of New England, one Irish and one Italian, into an all-out war. City on Fire was published last year; the sequel, City of Dreams, will be published later this month. The concluding book of the trilogy, City in Ruins, is forthcoming. Sony hopes to adapt the entire trilogy. Says Winslow, "I’ve had a number of conversations with Austin about this trilogy that I’ve been working on for almost thirty years of my life and I have been deeply impressed by his commitment to playing Danny Ryan as well as his passion to also produce the three films." Winslow's works have been adapted twice for the screen previously; the 2007 Paul Walker film The Death and Life of Bobby Z, and Oliver Stone's 2012 misfire Savages. He co-created the short-lived NBC series UC: Undercover; FX also intends to make his Cartel Trilogy into a series.

Butler began his career as a teen actor, appearing on the sitcoms Zoey 101 and Life Unexpected. He subsequently starred in the Sex and the City prequel The Carrie Diaries and the fantasy series The Shannara Chronicles before taking on the prominent role of Charles Manson cultist Tex Watson in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. He then landed the coveted title role of Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann's Elvis, which earned him widespread acclaim and a bevy of award nominations, as well as the lingering traces of Presley's distinctive accent. He can next be seen in Dune: Part Two as the villainous Feyd-Rautha, in Jeff Nichols' The Bikeriders, and in the Steven Spielberg-produced WWII miniseries Masters of the Air.

Please Don't Destroy SNL Sketch Austin Butler
Image via NBC

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City on Fire will be produced by Butler, David Heyman (Barbie, Wonka), and Shane Salerno (Avatar: The Way of Water). Elizabeth Gabler and Marisa Paiva are overseeing the project for Sony.

Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.