Helstrom alum Sydney Lemmon is officially onboard for Blumhouse's Firestarter movie remake.
The actor joined a cast that includes Zac Efron and Ryan Kiera Armstrong, along with Gloria Reuben and Michael Greyeyes. In addition to playing Ana Helstrom on Marvel and Hulu's Helstrom series, Lemmon portrayed the character Isabelle on Fear the Walking Dead and guest-starred in Season 2 of HBO's Succession.
A film adaptation of Stephen King's 1980 sci-fi/horror novel, Firestarter centers on Charlie, a young girl with pyrokinetic abilities who's hunted by The Shop, a sinister government agency seeking to use her powers for its own dark purposes. Charlie was played by Drew Barrymore in the 1984 movie adaptation of King's book, which earned a middling critical reception and disappointing box office returns. The character is brought to life by Armstrong in Blumhouse's film, with Efron starring as her father, Andy.
Lemmon will costar in the Firestarter remake as Charlie's mother, Vicky. In King's novel, the college-aged Vicky and Andy participate in The Shop's experiments involving a mysterious hallucinogenic drug known as Lot 6, causing them to develop minor psychic abilities, which they unknowingly pass on to their daughter. As a result, Andy and Charlie find themselves being pursued by The Shop's agents years later, including the war veteran-turned hitman John Rainbird (Greyeyes).
Production on Blumhouse's Firestarter remake began in May, with Keith Thomas (The Virgil) directing from a script by Scott Teems, a co-writer on Blumhouse's Halloween Kills. "I'm excited about doing a different, a new adaptation of the book, and getting into some things that the original film didn't -- some things that I think are kind of core to what the book is," said Thomas, speaking about the project in February.
"I think there's a lot of stuff to explore in it that that King obviously is hinting at throughout the book that I don't see as much in the original film that I think we can really dive into," he added.
The official synopsis for Firestarter reads as follows: "A young girl develops pyrokinetic abilities and is abducted by a secret government agency that wants to harness her powerful gift as a weapon."
Directed by Keith Thomas, Firestarter stars Zac Efron, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, Michael Greyeyes, Gloria Reuben and Sydney Lemmon. It has yet to receive a release date.
Source: Blumhouse