If someone in Hollywood needs a writer for either an action-packed TV series or a high concept movie, then Derek Kolstad will increasingly be finding his name towards the top of those particular lists. He may have been dropped from the John Wick franchise after penning the first three installments, but his work was integral to establishing the mythology that turned the Keanu Reeves films into a blockbuster phenomenon.
Not that he’s slowed down since being replaced by Shay Hatten and Michael Finch on Chapter 4, though, with Kolstad also scripting Bob Odenkerk’s acclaimed Nobody, which reunited him with several key members of the Wick creative team. On top of that, he contributed to The Falcon and the Winter Soldier‘s writers room, and has several video game adaptations in development including Netflix’s animated Splinter Cell, a Hitman TV pilot and the long-gestating Just Cause movie.
Kolstad’s latest venture into genre territory has seen him tasked by Amazon to bring Coyote Blue to life, with Sterling K. Brown set to star in the feature directorial debut of Hanelle M. Culpepper, best known for helming episodes of Star Trek shows Discovery and Picard, and the initial pitch bears more than a couple of superficial similarities to John Wick.
Brown stars as a seemingly regular guy, who finds himself being hunted by a crime syndicate for the mysterious cargo that he’s carrying, before he turns the tables on his pursues by unleashing a hidden and very deadly set of skills on his enemies during an intense battle for survival along the rough terrain of Route 66.
It sounds as though it’s right inside Kolstad’s wheelhouse, and Brown is a fantastic actor that hasn’t really been given the chance to showcase his action hero credentials, so Coyote Blue is definitely one worth keeping an eye on.
