Homeland star to replace Paul Walker as lead in new Hitman movie

Homeland star Rupert Friend will replace the late Paul Walker as the lead in Fox's new Hitman movie Agent 47, Hollywood news site Variety reports today.

The publication reports that Walker's commitment to project was a major factor in getting it greenlit, and after he died in a car crash last year, it became unclear if the film would begin shooting in February as planned.

Commercials director Aleksander Bach will direct Agent 47 from a script written by A Good Day to Die Hard writer Skip Woods and Michael Finch. The movie is a sequel to 2007's Hitman, which starred Timothy Olyphant as Agent 47.

The most recent Hitman game was 2012's Hitman: Absolution.

There are multiple new Hitman games in development, including a new AAA project from series creator IO Interactive, as well as mobile games from Square Enix Montreal.