EXCLUSIVE: AR Content, the banner founded by Oscar-nominated producer Alexander Rodnyansky, has optioned the television rights to John Shirley’s action-thriller book series The Specialist.
The novels, which were published under the pen name John Cutter, served as the inspiration for the 1994 Warner Bros. film The Specialist starring Sylvester Stallone and Sharon Stone.
AR Content has secured rights to all 11 books in the series and the company said it’s planning to bring the material into present day, exploring the moral and tactical complexities of modern, drone-era warfare. The company is currently in discussions with showrunners.
Rodnyansky and his banner are coming off the back of Debriefing the President, a limited series based on John Nixon’s book of the same name. It stars Joel Kinnaman as the former CIA analyst who wrote the non-fiction book about his experience of being the first American to identify and interrogate Saddam Hussein following his 2003 capture. That drama, which is set to air on TNT next year, used an indie film financing model outside of the traditional studio framework and Rodnyansky said The Specialist will look to use the same structure.
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In the updated version, ‘The Specialist’ is a morally conflicted former military drone operator, haunted by his past and desperate to reclaim his humanity. Drawing from real-time battlefield developments from the war in Ukraine and beyond, the series will integrate cutting-edge technology including FPV drones, kamikaze UAVs, thermite attacks and fiber-optic drones – devices capable of destroying tanks, dismantling organized crime networks and bypassing traditional security measures. Given the absence of current defences against such technology, The Specialist exposes how the rules of war are being written in real time.
Rodnyansky, who was born in Kyiv, Ukraine, and was forced to flee his home in Moscow for being a vocal critic against the war in the region, recently directed and produced the documentary Notes of a True Criminal, which is screening Out of Competition at the Venice Film Festival this year. He and his banner also produced Venice Competition title Orphan, directed by Laszlo Nemes.
“I’ve experienced firsthand how modern war is reshaping our world and have felt a deep responsibility to explore its consequences and meaning through storytelling,” said Rodnyansky. “The Specialist is an opportunity to expose and examine a world shaped by remote warfare, where technology has changed the rules of engagement, but the emotional and psychological toll remains deeply human. At the same time, we’re building this series using an international co-production, independent model that allows us to maintain ownership while bringing the story to audiences worldwide.”
Shirley adds: “My Specialist books, written as John Cutter, are about one man fighting for justice for other people, other causes, against titanically dangerous institutions of criminality or oppression. In the reborn The Specialist from AR Content, our hero extends his reach with the power of innovative technology at the cutting edge and beyond, because science fiction has become reality.”
Shirley is a prolific author of more than 80 novels and short story collections spanning a wide range of genres from sci-fi to westerns. His screenwriting credits include The Crow, the cult film directed by Alex Proyas and starring Brandon Lee, as well as work on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Poltergeist: The Legacy and others. He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program in 2014.
The deal was brokered by CAA on behalf of AR Content and UTA on behalf of Shirley.