![Dylan O'Brien](https://images.bauerhosting.com/legacy/empire-images/articles/57326d7b2d6ae3e52d8abb41/dylan-obrien.jpg?auto=format&w=1440&q=80)
Even as he recuperates from injuries sustained on the set of the latest Maze Runner film, Dylan O'Brien is looking to his cinematic future. He's now making a deal to star as Mitch Rapp in the adaptation of Vince Flynn's novel American Assassin than aims to kick off a new series of movies.
The script, written by Stephen Schiff, spins the clock back to Rapp's early days with the CIA, when he's recruited after his girlfriend is killed in a terrorist strike. Though Rapp was introduced in 1999, the film adapts the 2010 tome that looked at his days in training. Michael Keaton is already aboard to play Stan Hurley, a secretive Cold War veteran who takes Rapp under his wing.
Michael Cuesta is directing the film for CBS Films and Lionsgate and the companies are hoping that the long-gestating project can finally start shooting in the autumn. Before that, he'll finish his recovery process and get back to work on Maze Runner: The Death Cure, which is all but certain to move from its originally planned January 2017 release date.