Bridgerton star Regé-Jean Page to star in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid remake
The heart-throb, who rose to stardom as the Duke of Hastings in the Netflix hit, has no plans to return to the role ad is instead moving on to new ventures
Bridgerton heart-throb Regé-Jean Page is to star in a TV reboot of hit 60s movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.
He will play Butch, the role made famous by Paul Newman in the 1969 film, with Top Gun Maverick actor Glen Powell taking on Robert Redford’s former character of the Sundance Kid.
Both actors will serve as executive producers, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Marvel film directors the Russo brothers are on board for the classic Western, said to be set in an “alternate America”, with the script being penned by Marvel The Eternal writers Kaz and Ryan Firpo.
The Amazon show, called simply Butch and Sundance, is said to have been planned as part of a larger franchise which could spawn a variety of spinoffs.
READ MORE: NTA Awards 2022 in crisis talks as TV schedules overhauled for tributes to the QueenJoe and Anthony Russo have just worked with Page on the Netflix action movie The Gray Man. He will also star in the upcoming Paramount feature Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves.
Powell is best known for playing Lt. Jake “Hangman” Seresin in the recent Top Gun sequel.
Based loosely on a true story, the film - ranked as one of the greatest of all time - follows Wild West outlaws Robert LeRoy Parker, known as Butch Cassidy and his partner Harry Longabaugh - the Sundance Kid.
The pair are on the run after a string of train robberies and flee to Bolivia along with Sundance’s lover, Etta Place.
Speaking at the premiere of The Gray Man in July, Page, 34, said he had no plans to ever return to Bridgerton as the dashing Duke of Hastings, who lead the cast in the opening series.
Speaking about the possibility of the character, married to Pheobe Dynevor’s Daphne Bridgerton, being re-cast for future series, he said: “They’re free to do as they like. Shonda and I had a wonderful conversation at the end of season one. We were quite happy with how we’d stuck the landing on that one.”
The period drama’s creator Shonda Rhimes has warned Bridgerton fans not to expect to see Page again as the Duke.
She explained: “I do not think you will see him back in Bridgerton, because that is not the plan. But I would love to work with him again.
“Rege is never gone. He is always there to be binged watched over and over and over again.”
Reports last year suggested Page had asked for “too much money’ to appear in just a few scenes for series two.
The third series is expected to launch on Netflix next year.