Director Gareth Evans’ action extravaganza The Raid is considered one of the best examples of the genre of modern times. If not all time. So, the idea of a remake is understandably galling to some fans of the Indonesian thriller. But a remake is coming, and it is coming courtesy of The Hitman's Bodyguard filmmaker Patrick Hughes. Speaking with Comicbook.com, Hughes described his remake of The Raid as a “reimagining” and fully understands the power and the legacy of the original.

"It's not a remake as such, it's a reimagining and it's taking what was so incredibly crazy with that hook. It's a very nitty-gritty, real world in that. Stepping into the straight action-thriller, but it's on that saga level and that's a project that I'm really, really excited about.”

Patrick Hughes is known for making such action comedies as The Hitman's Bodyguard and Hitman's Wife's Bodyguard, but the filmmaker has assured fans of The Raid that his remake will not be full of laughs and will instead find him taking things seriously.

"There's not too much I'm allowed to say, but it is something where we're really ... I'm excited because I have come off a big run of doing action comedies and I love that genre and I'm certainly going to be working it again in the future, but for now, I've got two projects and the other's a big action, sci-fi, horror, thriller, survival, epic movie. There are just a couple of different genres I want to step into for a while and then I'll certainly be coming back to the action comedy because it is so much fun to work in, too."

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The Raid Remake Will Reportedly Be Titled Zeno & Move the Action to Philadelphia

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PT Merantau Films/Sony Pictures

Describing this new take on The Raid as a “reimagining” reveals that the project will make changes when adapting the material into an English-language remake. One such change will reportedly be the title, with recent reports claiming that the remake will go by Zeno instead of The Raid. The action will also be moved to the "Badlands" area of Philadelphia and follow "an elite undercover DEA task force climb a ladder of cartel informants to catch an elusive kingpin."

Writer Adam G. Simon has previously teased the direction of the remake, revealing that the movie will center on the relationship between two brothers. Much like The Raid did with Rama (Iko Uwais) and Andi (Donny Alamsyah). "When I started writing and sending pages over to Joe, it turned into something all it's own,” Simon said. “It became its own animal. Through that process, a story emerged. A tale about two brothers and an examination of why we can fight so viciously with the ones we care for most. It kept evolving that way from the first draft until the current draft we have now. Zeno is comparable to The Raid as Die Hard is to Dredd."

The title, Zeno, is reportedly the name of one of the brothers, with Frank Grillo and Taylor Kitsch on board to play the two siblings who find themselves on opposite sides of the track. The Raid remake will premiere on Netflix with Patrick Hughes directing alongside Michael Bay producing and Gareth Evans executive produced.

Patrick Hughes will first return to action comedy with the Netflix outing The Man from Toronto starring Kevin Hart and Woody Harrelson, which lands on the streaming platform today.