Jack Reacher writer-director Christopher McQuarrie is finalizing a deal to rewrite the Tom Clancy adaptation Without Remorse for Paramount Pictures. The filmmaker may possibly direct as well, although that has not been set in stone yet.

The project has been in development at the studio for years, with John Singleton attached to direct way back in October 2006. We also reported in October 2010 that The Shield creator Shawn Ryan took a crack at the script.

The novel, first published in 1993, is a spin-off of Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan series that introduces John Kelly (a.k.a. John Clark). The story takes place six months after his pregnant wife died in a car accident. He picks up Pam, a prostitute seeking refuge from her dangerous employers, who used her as a drug mule. They join forced to take down the drug lords. At the same time, the Pentagon goes looking for the operative to lead a rescue mission in North Vietnam.

Paramount also has the Untitled Jack Ryan Project brewing, with Chris Pine attached to star. There is the possibility for a crossover between both projects, since the characters have crossed paths before. Willem Dafoe played John Clark in Clear and Present Danger, opposite Harrison Ford's Jack Ryan. Liev Schreiber also portrayed the operative alongside Ben Affleck's younger Jack Ryan in The Sum Of All Fears.