HOT RIGHT NOW

JOHN BOYEGA IS ALL BOOKED UP.

‘They say the war tore a hole in the sky, the sun came down, burned everything, everyone…’ said Denzel Washington’s blind drifter Eli, rather cryptically, in 2010 post-apocalyptic movie The Book of Eli. Well, now a prequel series starring John Boyega as Eli is set to answer what, exactly, happened to turn the US into a wasteland.

Boyega will also be an executive producer, while the movie’s directors Albert and Allen Hughes (Dead Presidents) will shepherd the show to our screens. You can expect the prequel to answer other key questions left dangling by the film: how did Eli become blind? Where did he learn his marksmanship and combat skills? And perhaps most important of all, how did Eli gain possession of the last Bible, key to humanity’s salvation?

News of the prequel series trekking over the burnt horizon confirms that Boyega has one of the hottest slates in the business right now. Also pipelined are sci-fi action movie Attack the Block 2 and sci-fi romance The Freshening. Of the former, which marks Boyega returning to his breakout role of E.T.-slaying Moses for original writer-director Joe Cornish, Boyega says: ‘The idea of coming back to London, shooting this movie and revisiting this character – it just fills me with joy.’ In The Freshening, meanwhile, set in a world where the government quells tensions by injecting every American with a drug that makes them see people as only their own race and gender, Boyega’s Reese will go on a date with Sam… and temporarily see things as they really are. ‘It’s a dream to work with John Boyega,’ says writerdirector Cathy Yan (Birds of Prey). ‘I know he’ll bring incredible depth and nuance to Reese.’

Fans are also willing Boyega’s rebellious Stormtrooper Finn to return to a franchise far, far away after the news dropped that Daisy Ridley will be back as last Jedi Rey in Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy’s Star Wars movie, set 15 years after The Rise of Skywalker. Boyega, who has previously spoken out about Disney sidelining Finn, says: ‘I’m open to all characters and scripts that are enjoyable, have a great cast attached and a terrific director.’

THE BOOK OF ELI SERIES, ATTACK THE BLOCK 2 AND THE FRESHENING ARE ALL TBC.