The less-than-epic 1997 attempt at bringing Spawn to the big screen is getting a reboot and Deadline reports that Jeremy Renner will be joining the cast opposite Jamie Foxx, who will play the iconic antihero Spawn.

You may – or may not – remember the original starring Michael Jai White, along with John Leguizamo, Martin Sheen, Theresa Randle and D.B. Sweeney and told the story of an elite mercenary is killed, but comes back from Hell as a reluctant soldier of the Devil.

In a statement, director/creator Todd McFarlane praised Renner as his idea for Twitch Williams, bringing up Renner’s movies like The Hurt Locker and Wind River as inspiration for casting.

“As a first-time director, I wanted to surround myself with the most talent and the most skilled people I can on all fronts,” McFarlane said. “I knew the person on screen the most is this police officer, Twitch Williams. We needed as strong a person as possible because he will be the face of the film. Jeremy [Renner] was at the top.”

In McFarlane’s Spawn comics, Twitch is a hard-boiled detective with the appearance of a wormy English professor — a visual contrast to his round and large partner Sam. McFarlane commented that Twitch “doesn’t need to be a bodybuilder or GQ handsome” and that he was looking for somebody “you’ve met before.”

“I needed someone who can pull off the grief of an average human being,” McFarlane said. “I’ve seen Jeremy do that in more than a few of his movies. He was at the top of my list, just like Jamie.”

Producer Jason Blum added, “Jeremy is the ideal choice for Twitch Williams. He radiates honesty, intelligence and a hard-working, everyman charisma, the same qualities that make Twitch such a compelling character.”

Twitch is now the second comic book character Jeremy Renner will play in live-action cinema. Hawkeye, who was missing in action in the past couple MCU films, will return in 2019’s Avengers 4.

Macfarlane has stated that despite his name being in the title, Spawn will not be the main character, the main character will be Twitch Williams (Renner) – a character that was absent in the 1997 movie. He has also stated that this movie was planned to be written as a strong “R-rated” film.

There is no release date yet.

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