Dark Wire: Jason Bateman announced as the director of Netflix’s FBI surveillance thriller

Netflix and Jason Bateman will continue collaborating after the mega success of Ozark, Bateman’s gritty thriller series about a Missouri family of money launderers swept into the drug trade. According to Deadline, Bateman will direct Dark Wire, an FBI surveillance thriller based on WIRED journalist Joseph Cox’s upcoming book. Bateman will also produce with Michael Costigan through Aggregate Films, Shawn Levy, Dan Cohen, and Dan Levine of 21 Laps.

Based on actual events, Dark Wire revolves around how the FBI established a fake telecom company and posed as a phone service provider to listen in on one of the world’s most infamous gangs. The setup arrested a thousand international criminals, making the sting one for the history books. Matthew Orton (Moon Knight, Operation Finale) is in charge of adapting the story, with Tracey Nyberg executive producing.

Since Arrested Development took the comedy world by storm, Bateman is always up to something new. Ozark proved that he could switch gears to present a drama that haunted audiences for five successful seasons, and now he’s poised to bring us into the heart of another fascinating crime thriller. Bateman’s directing credits include 2013’s Bad Words, 2015’s The Family Fang, and multiple episodes of The Outsider and Ozark. His next feature directorial effort, Here Comes the Flood, is in pre-production. The plot for Here Comes the Flood is being kept under wraps, but we hear it’s a character-driven, romance heist thriller.

Are you excited about Bateman directing Dark Wire? What do you think about the FBI inventing a fake telecom company to spy on a group of criminals? Will you think twice the next time you hear a series of strange clicks on your phone? The government is everywhere, man. Learn your code words, know where the last of the pay phones are, and good luck.