Ronin: the series?

The spies-turned-mercenaries of the slick action flick RONIN may be blasting their way to your hi-def set — a series based on the 1998 Robert DeNiro/Jean Reno movie from director John Frankenheimer is now in the works.

MGM is working on bringing the car chases and gunfights to the small screen. The show (being co-produced by the BBC) will be “reconfigured” from the movie, but will presumably still involve various freelance operatives searching for work in the wake of their official country service. The plan is to seek an American lead and shoot the series in Europe.

This isn’t the first time a RONIN show has been attempted — way back in 2002, the FX network planned a series to be produced and developed by J.D. Zeik, who wrote the original film. Maybe they couldn’t decide what was in the case, so they just vaulted it.