Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is a bona fide action superstar. Following a few early missteps during his film career, Johnson has established himself as one of Hollywood’s go-to action stars, earning credit as a savior of sorts for middling franchises, most notably Fast & Furious and G.I. Joe. Johnson became the face of the G.I. Joe franchise with last year’s G.I. Joe: Retaliation, taking the mantle following Channing Tatum’s character’s death. With G.I. Joe 3 in development, Paramount has decided to make Johnson’s character, Roadblock, the center of the story. The studio has hired new screenwriter Jonathan Lemkin (Shooter) to meet that goal.

No plot details or casting announcements have been made, but it’s assumed that the majority of G.I. Joe: Retaliation‘s cast will remain intact. Producer Lorenzo di Bonaventura had this to say about the sequel’s new narrative direction:

It’s interesting, it’s sort of an open possibility right now who could be in it outside of Dwayne [Johnson], he has to be in it.  The last movie was really the set up, in a way, for Roadblock to take over.  Dwayne came aboard a little late last time so we weren’t able to do everything I think we can do this time, and really get a story that services what the audience expects out of him, and also as an actor pushes him into areas that you wouldn’t normally explore in a big franchise movie perhaps.  We have not talked about any other cast or anything, because we really need a story to be completely signed off by everybody.

If only Johnson could help save the Transformers franchise…

[via Collider]