For fans of the gritty and intense Kane & Lynch video game series, the prospect of a big-screen adaptation has been tantalizingly close yet frustratingly out of reach for years. Originally developed by the renowned Hitman studio, IO Interactive, and released back in 2007, the game's potential for a cinematic adaptation seemed promising, with various Hollywood stars linked to the project over time.
Recently, Timo Tjahjanto, the director of Nobody 2, shared an intriguing update on social media. He revealed that he had crafted a treatment for a Kane & Lynch film, envisioning David Harbour, best known for his roles as Jim Hopper in Stranger Things and Red Guardian in Thunderbolts/New Avengers, in one of the lead roles. "Never seen a script, but a couple of years ago when that property was still kinda hot. I wrote a short treatment with James Badge Dale and David Harbour in mind," Tjahjanto explained. Unfortunately, this idea, like many before it, never progressed further.
The Kane & Lynch movie project now seems to be dead in the water. Photo by Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images. Tjahjanto's treatment was just one of several attempts to bring the game to life on the big screen. Over the years, high-profile actors like Bruce Willis and Jamie Foxx were attached to the project, but both eventually dropped out as the script underwent numerous rewrites. Later, another iteration of the film was reportedly set to feature Gerard Butler and Vin Diesel in the titular roles, yet this too never materialized.
Following the release of the sequel, Kane & Lynch: Dog Days in 2010, which received mixed reviews, IO Interactive shifted their focus entirely to their acclaimed Hitman franchise, leaving the Kane & Lynch series and its potential film adaptations behind.
