It appears the next industry trend on the horizon is monsters. While Universal is brewing up the first installment of their new Monsters Universe with the Tom Cruise‘s The Mummy currently in production, Lionsgate is forging ahead with a feature film adaptation of the BBC One series Jekyll. And now, they’ve set their sights on a Marvel-ous leading actor with Captain America himself, Chris Evans eyeing the lead role as the brilliant doctor with a murderous split personality. (Look I’m really sorry about that sleazy Marvel pun but it’s late and I’ve still got Comic-Con brain).

Based on the Steven Moffatt-penned 2007 TV mini-series of the same name, which followed the last living descendant of the mythical Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde who attempts to keep his violent, supherhuman alter-ego in check with cutting edge technology and modern medicine. The two have a time share on the single body they possess, but when Mr. Hyde finds out about Jekyll’s wife and children, it all goes to pot in a heartbeat. James Nesbitt originated the role in the series, and Chris Evans is certainly an unexpected choice. However, while Evans screams leading hero (hence, Captain America), he’s always displayed interesting, gene-oriented taste and Jekyll could be a really fun opportunity to watch him go full evil (as opposed to Evil Ex evil).

Jekyll doesn’t have a director attached at this point, but Ellen DeGeneres and Jeff Kleeman are producing through their A Very Good Production banner, and the writing duo Anthony Bagarozzi and Charles Mondry are set to pen the script. Bagarozzi shared a screenwriting credit with Shane Black on this summer’s wickedly wry The Nice Guys, and he’s teaming up with Mondry to script Black’s in-the-works Doc Savage adaptation, as well as the Adam Wingard-directed remake of Death Note.

Over in the Universal Monsters reboot, Russell Crowe has been selected to portray Robert Louis Stevenson’s iconic doctor torn between two halves in a movie Crowe says is “designed to seriously scare the shit out of you.” His character will debut in Alex Kurtzman‘s The Mummy before presumably carrying a standalone film in the future.

What do you think? Can you see Evans in the role? Did you watch the original series? Which version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde are you most eager to see? Sound off in the comments below.