With Assassin’s Creed bubbling along in its development tubes, video game company Ubisoft is looking to keep the pipeline full of product, pushing development for a based on its Splinter Cell series into a higher gear. The team has now hired Eric Singer to write the script and landed the services of Tom Hardy to play Sam Fisher. Though no studio is attached yet, Ubisoft nabbing Hardy certainly indicates it’s serious about turning Cell into a new action franchise. Using the five titles available as source material, Singer will be writing a script that follows special ops expert Sam Fisher, the leader of a fictional tactical team. He’ll be going up against international terrorists. Given the game’s popularity – it’s been a huge seller since it debuted in 2002 – the developers are hoping for a built-in audience, albeit one that will be ready to tear the film down if it doesn’t succeed in matching the game. But we seriously doubt Hardy would attach himself to something if he didn’t think it was worth giving a shot. Hardy’s currently hard at work on George Miller’s Mad Max: Fury Road, playing Max Rockatansky. He’s also in development on various movies, including two about animal poaching and one about the story of George Mallory’s ascent of Everest. | 
