New Hitman TV Show Gives Agent 47 Hair

More details have emerged about the new Hitman TV series in the works from John Wick writer Derek Kolstad, and the big takeaway is that Agent 47 will actually have hair on the show.

Kolstad, who wrote the first two episodes of the prequel show, told Collider that his version of Agent 47 for the TV show is "very much the hitman we know from the games," except with hair. Kolstad said Agent 47 will have a "full head of hair" in the show, and he's "independent," which means he might not be working for the International Contract Agency (ICA) from the games.

"He has a handler, he's got a life, he's very much that early '80s, late '70s assassin we read about in the books, right? But at a certain point, he gets a gig, and that gig unveils the reality that no choice he's ever made has been his own," Kolstad said. "And of course, the show ends with him at a mirror, finding hidden under his skin, the barcode. So suddenly it becomes a mystery of 'who am I, really?' [Jason] Bourne did that excellently. This is more of, 'What is true in regards to the people in my life? What has been manufactured, what are thoughts, etc.' It's the nature versus nurture of it all."

Also in the interview, Kolstad said he's not sure when the Hitman TV series will actually start filming. It's been in the works for years at Hulu, but cameras haven't started rolling yet, and there is no word on who would play 47 or any other characters at this point.

"The gestation period for TV is forever, just like it is for movies, and then all of a sudden it awakens. But it's over with Fox and I love everyone over there, so we'll see," he said. "I don't know if it's asleep, or slumbering, or about to awaken, but we talk about it at least once a month going, 'Can we do something with that now?'"

The Hitman TV show doesn't have a showrunner at the moment, which may be part of the reason why it hasn't gotten off the ground yet. Kolstad said he might be too busy currently to be the showrunner for the Hitman TV show. Not only that, but Kolstad is more interested in writing as opposed to all the extra duties required of a showrunner.

"I've got a lot going on, because I love to write. And I know a showrunner is what a writer should really want to be, because you get all the money and all the power, if you want to take it. But the reality is, I want to just write," he said. "So on these things, I want to partner up with a showrunner, and [to use] an analogy from a sport I don't necessarily watch, I want to help build the car, staff the pit, hand the keys over to the driver and just be there to refuel and take care of the car. I want to do that as much as I can because the joy is the writing for me. Being on set is cool, but then [after] about five minutes you're like, 'meh.' I'm blessed alone in a cave [where I can] type."

Kolstad is the co-creator of the John Wick series and he wrote every installment in the movie franchise. He also wrote the Bob Odenkirk action movie Nobody, and he's attached as a writer for the Just Cause movie as well. Additionally, Kolstad is a writer for Marvel's The Falcon and the Winter Soldier.

The Hitman series has expanded beyond games before with 2007's Hitman starring Timothy Olyphant and then 2015's Hitman: Agent 47, which featured Rupert Friend as the assassin. Both films were very poorly received, and Olyphant later admitted that he took the role because he had bills to pay.

As for the Hitman game series, IO Interactive just recently announced the details of the new Hitman 3 DLC series about the seven deadly sins.