Tom Hardy to star in 'Splinter Cell' video-game adaptation

Tom Hardy

Credit: AP Photo/Evan Agostini

Tom Hardy is going undercover.

The "Dark Knight Rises" star has signed on to play black-ops agent Sam Fisher in Ubisoft's adaptation of their best-selling video-game franchise "Splinter Cell" (according to Deadline), with screenwriter Eric Warren Singer ("The International") on board to pen the script (via Collider).

The "Splinter Cell" video-game franchise - the first installment of which was released in 2002 - has players guiding Fisher on a series of covert missions, often in an effort to thwart terrorist attacks. Officially known as "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell" thanks to Ubisoft's acquisition of the Clancy-founded video-game developer Red Storm Entertainment over a decade ago, the games (six so far) have collectively sold over 22 million copies, with a series of best-selling tie-in novels completing the package.

This is the second Ubisoft adaptation to attach a major star in less than a month, with Michael Fassbender signing on to the company's "Assassin's Creed" movie in late October. It should be noted that unlike that film, "Splinter Cell" does not yet have a studio on board, though several have reportedly shown interest.

Hardy was of course last seen in Christopher Nolan's "The Dark Knight Rises" as Batman's masked, borderline-unintelligible adversary Bane. Coming up, the in-demand actor will appear in George Miller's trouble-plagued "Mad Max: Fury Road," in which he plays lead protagonist Max Rockatansky opposite Charlize Theron.

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