Sony has set a release date for their next feature adaptation of Dan Brown's thriller starring protagonist Robert Langdon, but it's not the one you might have been expecting.  Brown's previously published and adapted works, The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons, were to be followed by his third effort, The Lost Symbol, but production on that front has stalled.  Instead, Sony is looking to strike while the brand is hot and has set a release date of December 18, 2015 for Brown's latest release, Inferno.  Star Tom Hanks and director Ron Howard, a team that took on the first two adaptations, will return for the third.  The book features Langdon attempting to solve a riddle once again, this time influenced by Inferno, the first part of Dante Alighieri's 14th century epic poem, "Divine Comedy."  Hit the jump for more.

Deadline reports that Sony has decided to skip The Lost Symbol for the moment and move forward with Inferno.  Screenwriter David Koepp (Angels & Demons) will also return to pen the third installment.  Although the Brown novels have proven to be a big box office draw for Sony, lack of progress on The Lost Symbol was somewhat disconcerting for Langdon fans.  Since Brown just released Inferno this May, it makes more sense to tackle the adaptation while it's fresh in the minds of book readers before possibly rounding back to The Lost Symbol in the future.

Here's the synopsis for Brown's Inferno (via Amazon):

In the heart of Italy, Harvard professor of symbology, Robert Langdon, is drawn into a harrowing world centered on one of history’s most enduring and mysterious literary masterpieces . . . Dante’s Inferno.

Against this backdrop, Langdon battles a chilling adversary and grapples with an ingenious riddle that pulls him into a landscape of classic art, secret passageways, and futuristic science. Drawing from Dante’s dark epic poem, Langdon races to find answers and decide whom to trust . . . before the world is irrevocably altered.