Keanu Reeves Boards Netflix's 'Maelstrom', 32 Years After Warner Bros. First Bought It

Keanu Reeves will star in the Netflix action movie "Maelstrom," replacing "Reacher" lead Alan Ritchson, who has dropped out of the project. Page Six Hollywood first reported the casting. Nobody has explained why Ritchson left. Hollywood rarely does.

Jaume Collet-Serra, the filmmaker behind "Carry-On," is directing. Mark Bianculli, screenwriter of "How to Rob a Bank," is polishing the script from a first draft by the late Gregory Fitzpatrick.

What is 'Maelstrom' actually about?

The premise is compact. A Federal Marshal guards the fiancée of an arms dealer. She wants witness protection and plans to testify against him. Everything happens over one evening, as a hurricane cuts off communication and blocks reinforcements.

The pair must fight the dealer's men while the storm does its own damage outside. One location, one night, weather as a supporting villain. It's a bottle-episode structure with a nine-figure streamer's budget behind it.

Why is a 1993 script arriving now?

"Maelstrom" has been waiting longer than some of Netflix's subscribers have been alive. Producer Jeff Robinov originally sold it as a spec script (a script written without a commission, shopped on the open market) to Warner Bros. in 1993, back when he was still an agent.

At the time, Variety reported the script was "widely described as 'Diehard' in a hurricane" and went for roughly $225,000 to $625,000. Adjusted for 33 years of inflation, that's closer to $500,000 to $1.4 million.

The new film is the first project under Robinov's fresh Netflix deal. The former Warner Bros. Pictures president has shepherded billion-dollar franchises before, including "The Dark Knight" trilogy and "The Hangover." He knows how to launch a property. He's just been slow with this one.

Where does this leave Reeves?

Reeves doesn't need the credibility. "The Matrix" and "John Wick" franchises did that work years ago. Last year he made his Broadway debut in "Waiting for Gadot" alongside Alex Winter, his "Bill & Ted" co-star.

He's busy elsewhere too. He's in talks to lead James Wan's next film, "The Gangster, The Cop, The Devil," for Paramount, and he'll reprise his voice role as Shadow in 2027's "Sonic the Hedgehog 4."

So "Maelstrom" joins a crowded slate rather than rescuing a stalled one. For Netflix, the appeal is obvious: a proven action star, a contained thriller, and a director who delivered a hit with "Carry-On." If the reunion of Robinov and his 1993 spec script works, a three-decade development odyssey ends in a single streaming release.