Sylvester Stallone is the latest Hollywood star to join the world of television.
On April 28, Deadline reported Stallone was cast in the upcoming series Omerta. Omerta is a television adaptation of the novel by author, Mario Puzo, and is the third book in The Godfather series.
Stallone has been cast as the lead role of Raymonde Aprile, a mob boss. Aprile is the last great American Don, and in the book, he is left in charge of caring for Don Zeno’s son, Astorre. As he raises Astorre, Aprile appoints him as his successor.
At this time, Stallone is the only actor to be cast in the project.
In case you are wondering about the title, “Omerta” refers to a honor code among the mafia that they will not speak about criminal activity or provide evidence to the authorities. What happens in the mafia stays in the mafia.
Antoine Fuqua (The Magnificent Seven) will direct and Justin Herber and Adam Hoff have penned the pilot episode. Omerta stems from The Weinstein Company, and already a writers room is being assembled, indicating a quick jump into production.
A showrunner and leading actress have yet to join the project, and Omerta is still without a network. However, the bidding process will soon begin for the project, and the producers are probably expecting a straight-to-series order.
This is not the first time someone has attempted to adapt Omerta for the screen. Harvey Weinstein originally bought the rights to the final novel in Puzo’s The Godfather series with the intention of adapting it into a feature film. The novel proved to be too much to condense into a single film, but, considering how many books have been successfully adapted into a TV series in recent years (Game of Thrones, 11.26.63, and Orange Is the New Black to name a few), the decision to give Omerta a chance at life on the small screen only makes sense.
This year Stallone received an Oscar nomination and won a Golden Globe for his portrayal of a retired Rocky Balboa in the movie Creed.
In December, Fox announced they were developing Rambo: New Blood for television. There was speculation that Stallone might join the cast and reprise his role as Rambo, but it has since been announced he will only be serving as an executive producer for the series.
Harvey and Bob Weinstein, Antoine Fuqua, David Glasser, and Sylvester Stallone are all executive producers for Omerta.