Kevin Costner may also do a Jack Ryan spinoff, creating a power vacuum in world of actor-fronted roots-rock bands

Threatening to create a void of celebrity-fronted roots-rock bands in every casino across this great land of ours, Kevin Costner is considering putting down his guitar and committing himself wholly to a different sort of Americana—the jingoistic, paranoid sort represented by Tom Clancy's Jack Ryan franchise. Costner has not only signed on to the previously reported mentor role in Paramount's Ryan reboot, he's also considering a deal that would have him starring in a spinoff franchise based on Clancy's Without Remorse protagonist, John Clark. The latter is currently being scripted by Christopher McQuarrie with an eye on Tom Hardy assuming the role once played by Willem Dafoe in Clear And Present Danger and Liev Schreiber in The Sum Of All Fears, and Costner potentially appearing in each as William Harper, "a true blue American idealist" who serves as the lynchpin for both characters and their movies. Should he commit, it seems likely to keep Kevin Costner & Modern West off the road for a while, allowing some other actor-led roots-rock group to usurp it. "Gentlemen, this is our chance," Dennis Quaid is currently telling The Sharks.