With the imminent release of Star Trek Beyond, director Justin Lin is looking forward to stepping away from the Final Frontier and into a project that’s a little more down to Earth…as in the feudal Japan samurai epic, Lone Wolf and Cub!

During an interview with Empire, Lin said “for the last year and a half I’ve been on this Star Trek detour, the greatest detour of my career. But I’m excited because Lone Wolf and Cub is one of many projects that I can’t wait to go back and revisit in the next two weeks when we’re done with all the press.”

Kazuo Koike and artist Goseki Kojima’s Lone Wolf and Cub is one of the most influential manga series of all time. The story followed a warrior named Ogami Ittō, who traveled the country with his young son Daigorō while working as an assassin and attempting to avenge the death of Ittō’s wife, Azami. Lin also noted in his interview that “five-to-ten years ago, they would have wanted Keanu Reeves to play the dad. I think the cool thing about it is that filmmaking has gone global. There’s many ways to make a movie and I think Hollywood has to evolve.”

As much as we love Keanu Reeves, we agree with Lin that it’s probably a good idea to cast a Japanese actor to play Ittō. Even with the popularity of Scarlett Johansson, the Ghost in the Shell movie has been savaged for not lining up an Asian actress for the leading role. Lone Wolf and Cub is a thoroughly Japanese story, and it deserves to have a cast that reflects that.

We mentioned two weeks ago that Lin was on the shortlist to direct the live-action Akira and we opined that he’d do a great job. If Lin does that project as well as Lone Wolf and Cub, he’ll be the world’s foremost adapter of anime, which would be quite the moniker.

Are you excited about a potential Lone Wolf and Cub movie directed by Lin? Slice through your enemies and share your thoughts in the comment section below!

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Image: Futabasha