Did you watch Richard Linklater’s true-story-inspired Hit Man — you know, that smoking hot Glen Powell and Adria Arjona led 2024 rom-com with an oh-so-intoxicating noir edge — and find yourself thinking, “Gee, this is great and all, but I wish there was a non-sequel follow-up streaming series to bring some more disguise-based drama to my life?” Well then, person of very niche hypothetical pitches, do we have some news for you. Per Deadline‘s reporting, precisely that — a new series inspired by the Linklater movie — is being explored at Netflix, with Powell and Linklater aboard to exec produce and Stephen Falk (You’re The Worst) on writing duty.
Inspired by the true story of actual-teacher-turned-faux-assassin Gary Johnson (as reported on by journalist Skip Hollandsworth in a 2001 article for Texas Monthly), Linklater’s Hit Man took the stranger than fiction kernel of Johnson’s real-life side hustle and popped it into a smart, sexy, slick, and incredibly quick-witted yarn featuring many dodgy hairpieces and many more excellent set pieces. While Deadline has no inkling as to the direction Falk’s proposed series may take at this stage, it is expected — and seems reasonable to expect — that the show will stick to the film’s general premise. Who knows, perhaps it’ll adopt a disguise-of-the-week approach to Johnson’s remarkable tale? We’d certainly be up for a whole hour dedicated to the movie’s Russian, cigar-chomping Goth guy persona.
It’s unknown at this point whether Powell or Linklater will be involved in anything beyond a strictly producorial capacity — though the fact Powell already has one man-in-disguise streaming series currently running, Disney+ charmer Chad Powers, would suggest possibly not. And it’s important to note that this is still in the proposal stage right now, with no green light and no dotted lines already signed. Still, while a Hit Man series certainly wasn’t on our Netflix bingo card, it’s also not an unwelcome prospect. Watch this space for more on Hit Man: The Series as we get it… unless, of course, we’re actually Glen Powell in disguise as an Online Writer for Empire and we actually know everything about the show already. Which we aren’t — and we don’t. Our lips are sealed.
