Homeland star Rupert Friend will replace the late Paul Walker as the lead in Fox's new Hitman movie Agent 47, Hollywood news site Variety reports today.

Image credit: Showtime

The publication reports that Walker's commitment to project was a major factor in getting it greenlit, and after he died in a car crash last year, it became unclear if the film would begin shooting in February as planned.

Commercials director Aleksander Bach will direct Agent 47 from a script written by A Good Day to Die Hard writer Skip Woods and Michael Finch. The movie is a sequel to 2007's Hitman, which starred Timothy Olyphant as Agent 47.

The most recent Hitman game was 2012's Hitman: Absolution.

There are multiple new Hitman games in development, including a new AAA project from series creator IO Interactive, as well as mobile games from Square Enix Montreal.