The Hollywood Reporter brings word that Academy Award winner Emma Thompson (Sense and Sensibility, Howards End) is reprising her role as Agent O in the upcoming Men in Black spinoff for Sony. Thompson will be joining Chris Hemsworth (Avengers: Infinity War, Thor: Ragnarok) and Tessa Thompson (Westworld, Thor: Ragnarok) in the project.
Agent O is the chief of the Men in Black organization and was fired played by Thompson in Men in Black 3. The younger version of her character was played by Alice Eve — who will star opposite Finn Jones as the villain Typhoid Mary in the second season of Marvel’s Iron Fist for Netflix.
Also starring in the Men in Black spinoff are Liam Neeson (Taken series), Kumail Nanjiani (Silicon Valley, The Big Sick) and Rafe Spall (The Big Short, Life of Pi). Plot details for the new Men in Black movie are scarce, but the film is said to take place in London and centers around a “new combination” of characters and is more of an ensemble film than a duo like the first three movies.
The untitled Men in Black spinoff will not feature Will Smith or Tommy Lee Jones, but it will expand on the world of the original trilogy. This will be a different project from the aborted 21 Jump Street franchise mashup, MIB 23, which Jonah Hill admitted previously was “too complicated” in terms of the deals needed. That film remains in development, however.
The new untitled Men in Black film is set to be directed by F. Gary Gray (Straight Outta Compton, The Fate of the Furious) and is been written by Matt Holloway & Art Marcum (Iron Man, Transformers: The Last Knight). Original franchise producers Walter Parkes and Laurie MacDonald are back along with executive producer Steven Spielberg. Production is set to begin this month in London.
