Warrior star Andrew Koji will play Storm Shadow in Paramount and Allspark’s G.I. Joe spinoff Snake Eyes. Based on the popular toy line and Marvel comic book series adapted from same, 2009’s G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra marked the beginning of what was to be an entire action movie franchise. After the first film grossed $302 million worldwide on a reported $175 million budget, Paramount indeed went ahead with the 2013 sequel G.I. Joe: Retaliation, which itself did $375 million globally on a somewhat more modest budget of $130 million.
But whatever Paramount was expecting box office wise from its G.I. Joe franchise, the first two films obviously did not perform well enough for the studio to commit to more movies right away, as there hasn’t been another G.I. Joe film since 2013. But now, Paramount does have plans to dip into the G.I. Joe universe again, teaming up with Hasbro’s Allspark to produce a spinoff film centered around the fan favorite character Snake Eyes. Just last week, it was reported that Henry Golding (Crazy Rich Asians) has been lined up to play the lead, a mysterious masked ninja with a tragic origin story. Darth Maul actor Ray Park originated the character in the first two G.I. Joe movies, but it was reported last December that Park would not be returning.
As reported by The Wrap, the Snake Eyes spinoff has now added a second cast member, signing up Andrew Koji to play Storm Shadow. In G.I. Joe lore, Storm Shadow is a ninja who becomes blood brothers with Snake Eyes, but ultimately signs on with the bad guys at COBRA and becomes Snake Eyes’ enemy. Lee Byung-hun played Storm Shadow in the previous two G.I. Joe films.
An actor and some-time stunt performer, Koji appeared uncredited in Fast & Furious 6 doubling for Han actor Sung Kang. Most recently, Koji took on the lead role of Ah Sahm in the Cinemax action series Warrior. He also had a role in season 2 of Starz’s Neil Gaiman series American Gods.
Given his stunt background, Koji definitely seems like a solid choice to play Storm Shadow in what is certain to be an action-oriented role. With Storm Shadow now confirmed for the cast, it seems Snake Eyes will definitely delve into how the titular masked and mute ninja and Koji’s Storm Shadow came to be blood brothers, and ultimately ended up on opposite sides of the on-going war between the heroes at G.I. Joe and the ruthless terrorists at COBRA. It will be interesting to see what other characters and actors are ultimately featured in the planned spinoff movie.
More: Christopher Eccleston Hated G.I. Joe & Thor: The Dark World
Snake Eyes is set to be released on March 27, 2020.
Source: The Wrap
