Glen Powell has had a busy few years, to say the least. Thanks to his supporting role in 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick, in which he came close to stealing scenes away from Tom Cruise, he continued an impressive theatrical run in titles like Twisters, Anyone But You, and The Running Man. His success isn’t only up on the big screen, as he’s set to return for a Season 2 of his hit Hulu series Chad Powers. A new report also confirms that one of his films is going to be pivoting into a streaming series. Powell first collaborated with Richard Linklater on Everybody Wants Some!!, a spiritual sequel to the cult classic Dazed and Confused. In 2023, the pair reunited for the movie Hit Man, in which Powell starred as a mild-mannered civilian who would sport disguises in sting operations to catch people who were attempting to hire genuine assassins. Deadline has confirmed that Hit Man is being developed as a TV series at Netflix, with both Powell and Linklater set to serve as producers.

You’re the Worst creator Stephen Falk is developing the series, though there are no official story details. Given the nature of the original premise, we can likely expect to see the main character adorning all sorts of disguises to meet new individuals each episode. From this formula, we could either get self-contained episodes with each chapter or a long-form narrative. With how tightly Netflix is known to hold onto their data, it’s difficult to determine just how popular the original Hit Man was, but it clearly won over critics, with the movie currently having a 95% positive score on aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. The movie’s critical consensus reads, “A deceptively dark thriller that’s also loaded with laughs, Hit Man is an outstanding showcase for leading man Glen Powell — and one of the most purely entertaining films of Richard Linklater’s career.” While the inherent premise of a character regularly encountering those who want to have other people killed comes with some darker thriller elements, the movie itself also leaned into romantic-comedy beats. Adria Arjona starred alongside Powell, with the two characters meeting when she attempts to hire one of his personas. Hit Man is far from the first movie to feature one character having to fake an identity or details of their personal life to keep a relationship going, but the specific details of Powell’s fake hitman add more thrilling elements to the narrative. After all, Arjona’s character attempted to hire a hitman largely due to the abuse she suffered from her husband.

In addition to not knowing the full details of the upcoming show’s narrative, it’s also unknown whether the spin-off will embrace the darker elements of the concept or more lighthearted comedy.

Hit Man

3.5
/5

Release Date

May 24, 2024

Runtime

116 minutes

Producers

Jason Bateman, John Sloss, Julie Goldstein, Steve Barnett, Stuart Ford, Glen Powell, Michael Costigan, Alan Powell, Shivani Rawat, Mike Blizzard, Miguel Palos, Vicky Patel, Megan Creydt, Scott Brown