Alan Ritchson & Joel to Star in New Untitled Navy SEAL Movie!!

Alan Ritchson is headed back to the only screen big enough to contain him, and now he’s bringing a Peaky Blinders star with him. Joe Cole is set to star with Ritchson in an as-yet untitled action movie based on an incident from the dying days of the Vietnam War. The film will be produced by Amazon MGM Studios.

According to reports, Ritchson will play Navy SEAL Mike Thornton in the film; trapped behind enemy lines with another SEAL and three members of the Vietnamese special forces in northern Vietnam, Thornton and his men were outnumbered 30-to-1 and under heavy fire. With the South Cina Sea their only avenue of escape, Thornton and his compatriots made a harrowing swim to safety; Thornton did so with two wounded men lashed to his body. After three hours of swimming, Thornton survived, as did his human cargo; he was subsequently awarded the US military’s highest decoration, the Medal of Honor. Thornton later became a founding member of SEAL Team Six. The film is part of Ritchson‘s three-picture deal with Amazon, whose Prime Video is the streaming home of his his action series Reacher.

Who Is Joe Cole?

London-born actor Cole played roles on the TV series The Bill, Skins, and The Thick of It before breaking out as John Shelby on the long-running period crime drama Peaky Blinders; he starred on the series for four seasons before meeting his tragic end. He subsequently starred on the British TV series Gangs of London, The Ipcress File, and Nightsleeper. Big-screen roles include Green Room, Thank You For Your Service, and The Damned. He is set to appear in a number of upcoming productions, including the action thriller He Bled Neon, the drama I See Buildings Fall Like Lightning, the Chris Hemsworth submarine thriller Subversion, and the Isabella Blow biopic The Queen of Fashion, in which he will play late designer Alexander McQueen.

The film will be directed by Patrick Hughes (The Hitman’s Bodyguard); he also directed Ritchson in the upcoming science fiction actioner War Machine. Ritchson co-wrote the script with Mark Semos (SEAL Team) and Jason Hall (American Sniper). Ritchson will also produce the film with Sylvester Stallone and D. Matt Geller for Balboa Productions, Todd Lieberman for Hidden Pictures, Alex Young, and Alan Rautbort.