John Cena In Talks For New Action-Comedy From Taken Director

John Cena has lined up a new film, entering talks for Taken director Pierre Morel’s new action comedy. Deadline reports that the Suicide Squad star and wrestler is in negotiations to star in Freelance, which will be directed by Morel and is budgeted in the $40 million range.

The film is described by Deadline as follows:

”[Freelance] follows a special forces operator (Cena) who decides to retire from the Army and start a family back in the states. After several years of mortgage payments, school drop-offs, backyard barbecues and trying to conform to life in suburbia, he decides to come out of retirement to take a gig providing security for a female journalist as she interviews a cruel dictator who may or may not have ordered the attack on him and his men. When a military coup breaks out in the middle of the interview, the three are forced to escape into the jungle where they must survive the elements, the military and one another.”

The movie is set to be shopped to studios at the upcoming American Film Market, which begins on November 1st. Jacob Lentz (Jimmy Kimmel Live) wrote the script, which is his feature film debut. Production will start early next year in Columbia.

Cena is set to appear on screen in HBO Max’s Peacemaker series, which is a spinoff from The Suicide Squad and premieres on January 13th