"You were a hero round these parts. That’s what they call you when you kill so many people the word murderer falls short."
A big-screen adaptation of Joe Abercrombie's best-selling fantasy novel Best Served Cold is in development, and Rebecca Ferguson (Mission: Impossible, Dune) is in final talks to play the lead role.
The movie will be helmed by Deadpool director Tim Miller for Skydance.
Originally published as part of Abercrombie’s First Law World series in the summer of 2009, Best Served Cold tells the story of the legendary mercenary Monza Murcatto (Ferguson), the betrayal that ostracizes her, and her ensuing quest for revenge that will forever change a nation.
Abercrombie penned the script, and producers will include Skydance’s David Ellison, Dana Goldberg and Don Granger, Aaron Ryder, Miller for Blur Studios, and Abercrombie. Aimee Rivera will also oversee the project for Skydance.
No production start or release dates have been announced.
Check out a synopsis for the book below, and let us know if you've read Best Served Cold in the comments.
"Springtime in Styria. And that means war. There have been nineteen years of blood. The ruthless Grand Duke Orso is locked in a vicious struggle with the squabbling League of Eight, and between them they have bled the land white. While armies march, heads roll and cities burn, and behind the scenes bankers, priests and older, darker powers play a deadly game to choose who will be king. War may be hell but for Monza Murcatto, the Snake of Talins, the most feared and famous mercenary in Duke Orso's employ, it's a damn good way of making money too. Her victories have made her popular -- a shade too popular for her employer's taste. Betrayed, thrown down a mountain and left for dead, Murcatto's reward is a broken body and a burning hunger for vengeance.
Whatever the cost, seven men must die. Her allies include Styria's least reliable drunkard, Styria's most treacherous poisoner, a mass-murderer obsessed with numbers and a Northman who just wants to do the right thing. Her enemies number the better half of the nation. And that's all before the most dangerous man in the world is dispatched to hunt her down and finish the job Duke Orso started"