Niall Leonard, E.L. James husband, has been tapped to pen “Fifty Shades Darker,” the sequel to Universal’s “Fifty Shades of Grey;”
Dakota Johnson and Jamie Dornan are attached to reprise their roles with James, Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca producing.
While this will mark Leonard’s first time working on a major studio film, he does have experience penning scripts mainly for British television on such shows as “Wild at Heart” and “Wire in the Blood.”
Variety first reported in February that the reason for the delay on naming a screenwriter for the sequel was because James herself wanted to pen the script and this seems like a fair compromise between the studio and author.
The studio will now look to find a replacement for director Sam Taylor Johnson who announced last month she would not be returning while Leonard works on the script.
No release date has been set nor has a production start date though sources close to the project still believe production would most likely start in the first quarter of 2016. The “Fifty Shades of Grey” franchise is a top priority for the studio following the first films success at the box office having already made $567 million worldwide.
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You can also check out http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/el-james-husband-writing-fifty-790859, as well.
Happy writing. We hope that this will get the ball rolling. We are waiting with bated breath.
