Taron Egerton being eyed for Robin Hood: Origins

Origins may have started to move ahead of the pack, as Deadline reports that Taron Egerton is now in talks to play the title role.

The “Kingsman: The Secret Service” star is the man Lionsgate want to take the leading role in the movie about the popular folk figure from the late-medieval period.

However, the website notes that while “Kingsman” raised Egerton’s profile – he next appears in the Tom Hardy gangster drama “Legend” – its announced sequel could lead to some scheduling complications. He forms a band of outlaws and they take matters into their own hands’. Now, reports say that Egerton, who garnered attention through “Kingsman”, is the frontrunner among these the mentioned actors to star as Robin Hood. Joby Haroled, who is the screenwriter for “Knights of the Roundtable: King Arthur”, will also be writing the script for “Robin Hood: Origins“, while Otto Bathurst was attached to helm the film, according to ScreenRant. That project, Hood, has been described as Fast And Furious meets Mission: Impossible.

With the quartet of projects vying to get to the start post, Lionsgate is doing everything it can to get out of the gates first. Egerton will face stiff competition for the role, too, with Transformers: Age Of Extinction’s Jack Reynor also in the mix; then again, it’s understood that the former star has muscled his way to the top of Lionsgate’s list.