Don Lee joins Hollywood production of ‘Hell Divers’ as main cast, producer

“The Roundup” star Don Lee, also known as Ma Dong-seok in Korea, will join the Hollywood production of adaptation of sci-fi novel “Hell Divers” with Arad Productions, the actor’s agency said Friday.

The film is based on bestselling author Nicholas Sansbury Smith’s 2016 dystopian sci-fi novel series “Hell Divers,” moving the first three books in the 10 book-series to the screen.

Set two centuries after World War III has poisoned the planet, the movie “Hell Divers” will show how humans live on massive airships circling the globe in search of a habitable area to call home.

The survival of people is dependent on so-called Hell Divers, men and women who skydive and risk their lives to scavenge for parts the ships need. Lee plays legendary Hell Diver Xavier, or X.

Arad Productions and the Oscar-nominated VFX supervisor and animation director Jerome Chen will work together under Lee's US banner, Gorilla 8 Productions. The director has not been decided.

Meanwhile, the third installment of the Roundup blockbuster franchise starring Don Lee hit 9.07 million tickets as of the fourth week of June, according to the Korea Box-office Information System. Its predecessor, “The Roundup” (2022), was the country's highest grossing film last year with more than 12.6 million admissions.