California Bear: Ryan Coogler producing vigilante thriller based on Duane Swierczynski novel

Creed and Black Panther director Ryan Coogler keeps adding to his slate of projects. He’s currently developing a reboot of the TV series The X-Files for Fox and is in production on an untitled supernatural thriller starring Michael B. Jordan for Warner Bros., a project that may or may not be about vampires fighting the KKK in the 1930s. A few days ago, we learned that Coogler is producing an adaptation of the BOOM! Studios graphic novel series A Vicious Circle for Universal Pictures… and Deadline has also confirmed that Coogler is producing an adaptation of the Duane Swierczynski novel California Bear for 20th Century Studios.

California Bear (pick up a copy HERE) follows four unlikely vigilantes whose decision to take justice into their own hands pits them against the villain behind California’s coldest murder case. Here’s the full description: NONE OF YOU ARE SAFE. “KILLER”: Jack Queen has been exonerated and freed from prison thanks to retired LAPD officer Cato Hightower. But when guilt gnaws at Jack, he admits: “I actually did it.” To which Hightower responds: “Yeah, no kidding.” You see, the ex-cop has a special job in mind for the ex-con… THE GIRL DETECTIVE: Fifteen-year-old Matilda Finnerty has been handed a potential death sentence in the form of a leukemia diagnosis. But that’s not going to stop her from tackling the most important mystery of her life: Is her father guilty of murder? GENE JEANIE: Jeanie Hightower mends family trees for a living, but the genealogist is unable to repair her own marriage. And her soon-to-be ex may have entangled her in a scheme that has drawn the bloody wrath of… THE BEAR: A prolific serial killer who disappeared forty years ago, who is only now emerging from hibernation when the conditions are just right. And this time, the California Bear is not content to hunt in the shadows… From two-time Edgar nominee Duane Swierczynski, California Bear is clever, moving, and surprising as it takes aim at the true crime industry, Hollywood, justice, and the killers inside us all.

Gary Lennon, the showrunner and executive producer of the Power spinoff series Power Book IV: Force, is writing the screenplay for the film adaptation. Coogler, Zinzi Coogler, and Sev Ohanian are producing through their company, Proximity Media, while Rebecca Cho is executive producing and overseeing the project with Hannah Levy for Proximity. Rashonda Joplin, 20th Century Studios’ Director of Production, and Catherine Hughes, Creative Executive, are shepherding the project. Head of Literary Affairs, Clare Reeth, brought Swierczynski’s novel to the studio.

What do you think of Ryan Coogler teaming with Gary Lennon and 20th Century Studios to bring Duane Swierczynski’s California Bear to the screen? Let us know by leaving a comment below.