Warner Bros Plots Femme-Driven Franchise In Brad Thor's 'The Athena Project'

EXCLUSIVE: Allow me to end the big guessing game that has been playing out over the past 24 hours on where the new Brad Thor novel The Athena Project will land as a feature film. I’m told that Warner Bros is making a preemptive deal to buy the book. It will be published November 23 by Atria. Bill Gerber and Casey Wasserman are producing. The Athena Project introduces an elite all-female Delta team made up of four agents who try to stop a terror attack on American soil. After a terror attack in Rome kills 23 Americans, the agents are sent to hunt down the Venetian arms dealer who supplied the explosives. This leads to a much larger terrorist conspiracy. Thor is best known for the book series featuring Navy SEAL Scot Harvath, a protagonist who has driven such thrillers as The Lions of Lucerne and Blowback. Those books were previously bought by the studio, which gave Warner Bros an “in” with the author and an inside track on the new book. Both are being shepherded by exec Jon Berg.