David Oyelowo to star in adaptation of Bill Clinton/James Patterson novel The President Is Missing
According to Deadline, David Oyelowo will star in Showtime’s adaptation of political thriller The President Is Missing, which has a silly title and holds the silly honor of being co-written by Bill Clinton and James Patterson. Oyelowo, Patterson, and Clinton will all produce as well, alongside Tom Cruise’s best buddy (and now-regular Mission: Impossible director) Christopher McQuarrie. Deadline also says the original book was “the no. 1 novel of 2018" and sold “over 2.3 million copies in North America alone” (most likely because it has that name and those authors on the cover).
In the series adaptation—which is just a pilot at this point, so it might not go further—Oyelowo will play a “powerless and politically aimless” vice president who takes over for the actual president early on in the first time and gets swept up in a “secret, world-threatening crisis, both inside and outside the White House.” From there, he either has to stay powerless and politically aimless or get tough and try to save America even though he doesn’t really feel like it. No spoilers, but there wouldn’t be much of a story if he didn’t choose the latter.
The pilot will go into production next year, so we’ll find out if it’s going to series at some point after that.