Keanu Reeves Sets Thriller ‘Kill Current’ As First Pic Under New Label Two Dragonflies, Teaming With The Arena & Zando

EXCLUSIVE: When Erik Feig launched The Arena, an independent studio focused on the creation of global franchises in event action and more, a Keanu Reeves collaboration seemed inevitable. And now, it’s coming to pass. Deadline has learned that The Arena has preemptively acquired and will finance and produce a Keanu Reeves-led adaptation of Oliver Lowe‘s upcoming novel Kill Current: A Jon Hendricks Thriller. Reeves will also produce with Alexandra Grant via Two Dragonflies, with the project marking the first to emerge from his new, previously unannounced production banner. Molly Stern and her publisher Zando will exec produce. Already, The Arena has unveiled a teaser for the project, which you can view above. Kill Current is the first novel in a forthcoming thriller series centering Jon Hendricks, a burned-out CIA officer who is pulled back in to avenge the protégé he trained and lost. Offering a globe-spanning, edge-of-your-seat action thriller about shifting alliances and the race for the world’s most precious and valuable assets, the first novel from Lowe is slated for publication by Zando in May 2027. Watch on Deadline “This project further underlines our focus on launching high-concept IP for global audiences across different media,” said Feig, who leads The Arena as CEO. “Keanu Reeves is a singular talent and synonymous with the kind of intelligent action franchises we are aiming to make. We are thrilled to work with him and Alexandra Grant and equally thrilled that Matt Reilly and Melissa Goodall were able to swoop in and get this!” Explaining the draw of the source material, Zando’s founder and CEO, Stern, said: “Oliver Lowe’s masterful story, the first in his upcoming Jon Hendricks series, is poised to reinvent the geopolitical thriller for the modern era. Kill Current is rooted in the issues shaping today’s world — semi-conductors, global supply chains, technological and information warfare. It delivers the fast-paced, globe-trotting read and complex, intriguing characters that thriller fans of any era crave.” As an action star and producer, Reeves is coming off the fourth installment of his John Wick franchise, which grossed nearly $450M worldwide, with the Donnie Yen spin-off Caine in post and a fifth entry with Wick in development. The actor told Deadline: “I’m excited and grateful for the opportunity to develop the character Jon Hendricks with these wonderful collaborators and that this is the project that launches Two Dragonflies which I share with my partner, Alexandra Grant.” Grant added, “Taking Kill Current from publishing into film form, and aligning with The Arena, Oliver Lowe and Zando is the kind of creative work Keanu and I have set up Two Dragonflies to do.” Reeves and Grant founded Two Dragonflies to tell stories across art, film, TV, animation, comic books, games and literature. As an actor, Reeves’ upcoming projects include the Warner Bros. sci-fi flic Shiver and The Entertainment System Is Down from multiple Palme d’Or winner Ruben Östlund. He is represented by WME and Ziffren Brittenham. Lowe is the pen name for writer Casey Stegman, whose fiction has been published by Tough, Shotgun Honey, Dark Yonder, Cowboy Jamboree, Bristol Noir and Punk Noir Magazine. Most recently, a story of his was included in The Best Mystery Stories of the Year, guest edited by John Grisham. Zando comes to Kill Current following work alongside numerous authors whose work has gone on to film and television success, including Andy Weir (The Martian; Project Hail Mary), Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl; Sharp Objects), Sally Rooney (Normal People; Conversations with Friends) and Blake Crouch (Dark Matter). Former Lionsgate film head Feig launched the Saudi-backed The Arena, a company looking to tap the modern fandom ecosystem, in October 2025. Other projects announced so far fall under their South Town banner, based on SNK video games set in the shared world of South Town. This includes the film Fatal Fury, written by The Dark Knight‘s David S. Goyer; their animated series Fatal Fury: The Vow with Skybound; the Godfather-inspired film Geese, written and directed by Grant Singer; plus adaptations of webtoon Art of Fighting, Metal Slug and Samurai Shodown. In June, the company expanded its exec team with the addition of Melissa Goodall, Zach Hamby, Megan Fleming and Sajan Alagiri, as we were first to report.