Stephen Gaghan is set to write the adaptation of Dead Spy Running, an espionage novel by British author Jon Stock, that McG is directing for Warner Bros.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film is meant to be the first in a trilogy and aims to reinvent the spy genre by telling the origin story of a newly trained spy in a tone that mixes the grittiness of The Bourne Identity with the wittiness of John Le Carre's oeuvre.

Dead Spy Running will be published in June, and begins with the protagonist running the London Marathon, where a fellow racer is strapped with explosives. The scenario leads to a globe-trotting adventure to clear the name of the man's father.

McG, who would direct at least the first installment, is producing with Jeanne Allgood via their Warners-based Wonderland Sound and Vision.

No production date has been set.