Morgan Freeman is in advanced negotiations to join the cast of the television series spinoff of Luc Besson's 2014 science fiction film, Lucy. Details of the plot are being kept closely underwraps at the moment, but it is expected to follow on from the story that ended at the conclusion of the $460 million-grossing movie. EuropaCorp and Village Roadshow are partnering to develop and produce the series, according to a report by Variety.
The film saw Johansson play a woman who, after taking a drug that was absorbed into her bloodstream, gained psychokinetic powers and skills. It's expected that Freeman will reprise his role from the film, playing the character Professor Norman, a mentor of Lucy. The film was a surprise hit with audiences, and saw unprecedented success leading the movie to become the highest-grossing French film in box office history following its spectacular $44 million opening weekend.
EuropaCorp has recently begun to pursue films and series that can be developed from its well-known intellectual properties and franchises, like The Transporter and Lucy. The company and Village Roadshow are both owned by the New York hedge fund Vine Alternative Investments. Lucy is the second series to be approved and greenlit by Vine for EuropaCorp after DogMan which stars Caleb Landry Jones, and was produced and written by Besson. DogMan is the story of a child who, after life hasn't given him a fair shake, finds hope through his love of dogs.
Besson is a prolific French film director, writer and producer whose best-known work includes Léon: The Professional, The Fifth Element, La Femme Nikita and Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets. He was nominated for a César Award for Léon, which starred Jean Reno and a young Natalie Portman, and centered on a professional hitman who takes in and trains a twelve-year-old girl in how to become an assassin.
Freeman is an Academy Award-winning actor and five-time nominee who is best known for his roles in films such as The Shawshank Redemption, Se7en, Amistad and Million Dollar Baby, for which he won the Best Supporting Actor award. He has most recently appeared in the action movie Paradise Highway (directed by Anna Gutto) alongside Juliette Binoche and Frank Grillo. In that, he portrays a veteran officer tasked with tracking down a woman who has been roped into assisting an illegal human trafficking operation.
Further information for the Lucy spinoff is yet to be made available, but in the meantime, you can check out the trailer for Paradise Highway, starring Freeman, below: