Keanu Reeves is back in action in Maelstrom , a thriller that’s been in development at Netflix for over three decades. The John Wick star is stepping up to take over the lead role after Reacher actor Alan Ritchson left the project. The premise sounds like something straight out of an action movie: a federal marshal has to protect a key witness as a hurricane isolates them from the rest of the world.

The film will be helmed by Carry-On director Jaume Collet-Serra, who directed the Netflix action thriller. It’s about a federal marshal assigned to protect the fiancée of an arms dealer who’s going into witness protection and preparing to testify against him. But as a hurricane approaches, communications fail, and reinforcements can’t reach them, the pair must battle armed men determined to stop her testimony.

The project has a surprisingly long history. Maelstrom , according to Page Six , was initially pitched to Warner Bros.…