Jamie Foxx gets tapped to star as Spawn in the upcoming reboot

In a reboot everyone saw coming but with a spin (aka casting) no one anticipated, Jamie Foxx has been cast as the title character in the forthcoming Spawn reboot, according to Deadline.

I see all you naysayers reaching for that change.org button
you have sewn to your breeches, wait one minute! Apparently, Todd McFarlane (creator of Spawn), does not only give his blessing to this Hellspawn Sir Jamie, he (Todd McFarlane) will also write and direct the feature for Blumhouse Productions.

Sir Jamie apparently approached McFarlane five years ago expressing his desire to portray Spawn in a new movie. McFarlane kept him in mind while working on the script, eventually leading to the actor’s casting.

(tiny disclaimer, Jamie Foxx is not British royalty, ‘sir Jamie’ just has a better ring to it than ‘Jamie Foxx’..so nobody quote me)

Per the comics, Spawn is an ex-Force Recon Marine and black ops CIA operative named Albert “Al” Simmons, who’s killed by his boss when he starts questioning the agency’s mission. Sent to Hell for the innocent lives he’d taken, Simmons becomes one of Satan’s Hellspawn and is back to Earth to cultivate evil souls to fill the ranks of Hell’s army in its war against Heaven.

Those born in the golden age of CGI aka when CGI as we have come to know it was still going through puberty will remember Spawn was originally adapted into a 1997 feature film starring Michael Jai White as the title character who’d do anything for Wanda (love interest), John Leguizamo as the creepy villain Clown/Violator, and Martin Sheen as the man who sent Spawn to Hell, Jason Wynn. Who else went bonkers over that red cloak Spawn had? Seen the 1997 movie lately? Don’t.

Todd McFarlane says he’s approaching his take like 2018’s A Quiet Place, where things open in the middle of the mayhem with little explanation. If audiences respond well to the first film, McFarlane has plans to dig deeper into Spawn’s background by turning the franchise into a trilogy. “I’m not going to explain how Spawn does what he does; he is just going to do it… The first movie is just saying, do you believe? And if you believe then that’s good because I’m hoping to take you for a long ride with this franchise.”

There’s no word on when McFarlane/sir Jamie’s reboot will hit theaters, but tune in for updates as this bit builds.