After his surprise performance on this year's Super Bowl Halftime show, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson’s G-Unit Film & Television has optioned Christopher Priest’s comic Xerø for development as a live-action film with an eye on a franchise. As Deadline reported, G-Unit Film & Television will produce the upcoming adaptation alongside Erika Alexander and Ben Arnon for Color Farm, as well as Joseph Illidge, who serves as CEO of the production and publishing company, Illuminous. While Xerø originated as a DC Comics property, rights to the series reverted to Priest in 2008, meaning that Warner Bros. will not be involved with the project.
“There’s no one better than Christopher Priest to bring G-Unit Film & Television into the world of comic book superheroes,” said Jackson. “Watch as we build Xerø into a franchise alongside Christopher and Color Farm Media. I can’t wait for the world to meet Trane Walker in an all new way.”
The film will follow a Black government assassin who weaponizes invisibility by disguising himself as a white man to blend anonymously into Casino Royale haunts of the international elite. Spanning the gulf between that and the disenfranchised city streets of East St. Louis, Illinois, Trane Walker is a man living in two worlds but taking ownership of neither. Xerø tells the story of his awakening and the life-and-death perils it presents. Xero was a short-lived comic book series, which ran from May 1997 to June 1998. The series featured investigator actually took place some twenty-five years in the future. The entire series is revealed in narrative from Walker's perspective.
Now Is the Time for a Xerø Movie to Be Made
Illuminous CEO Joseph Illidge had this to say as to why the film is perfect for this moment in history: “Xerø is the perfect action hero for our times in a story that is equal parts James Bond and James Baldwin. G-Unit’s legacy of courageous, edge-of-your-seat thrillers about complex protagonists makes them the perfect partner to spearhead this franchise. After working with Christopher on Batman years ago, I’m thrilled to be reuniting with him on Xerø.”
Illidge is an award-winning graphic novel editor known for his work on DC Entertainment projects, including Greg Rucka’s Detective Comics series and Heavy Metal Magazine. The Incal publisher Humanoids released his graphic novel, MPLS Sound, about an ’80s Minneapolis funk group competing to become the next band for legendary musician Prince, in April 2021. Currently, we don't have a release date as to when this new film will start to film or make its debut either in theaters or streaming. However, with superhero films and television continuing to be the juggernauts that they are, I would expect to hear something very soon on those details.
As for 50 Cent, you can catch Curtis Jackson as a part of the cast of the upcoming action sequel The Expendables 4. The film features returning franchise stars like Sylvester Stallone and Jason Statham alongside new cast members Megan Fox and Tony Jaa. That movie doesn't yet have a release date but is expected to arrive in 2022.