Tom Hanks has locked in a deal with Sony to return as Robert Langdon in "Inferno," the third adaptation of Dan Brown's novels.
The Oscar-winning actor will reteam with director Ron Howard to start filming in Italy next April, according to Deadline. David Koepp, who wrote the "Angels & Demons" script, will write the screenplay for "Inferno," and Brian Grazer will return as producer.
In Inferno, Langdon awakens in an Italian hospital suffering from a bout of amnesia. He and a female doctor must prevent a mad scientist, obsessed with Dante's Inferno, from releasing a deadly virus before it renders one-third of the human population infertile. The story travels through Venice and Istanbul.
Hanks starred as the Harvard symbologist in the two previous installments, "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels & Demons." Sony Pictures skipped over Brown's other Langdon novel The Lost Symbol. Howard wanted to produce but not direct that film, and the movie was subsequently shelved.
The first two films grossed a total of $1.2 billion worldwide. "The Da Vinci Code" earned the majority of those earnings during its 2006 release. "Angels & Demons" came out in 2009.
"Inferno" has a planned release date set for Dec. 18, 2015. It will go head-to-head with another franchise return, "Star Wars."
