Cary Fukunaga to Write and Direct Alexandre Dumas Film 'The Black Count'

Yeah, it's a little sad that Cary Fukunaga won't be returning for season two of True Detective, but after helming ever single episode of the HBO series he deserves a break....from TV, anyway. Fortunately it has freed him up to start work on the big screen again, lining up his next project, a rather incredible true tale of the real-life inspiration for The Count of Monte Cristo.

Fukunaga will write and direct an adaptation of The Black Count: Glory, Revolution, Betrayal, And The Real Count of Monte Cristo, Tom Reiss' book about General Alex Dumas, the father of author Alexandre Dumas. General Alex Dumas was born a slave but rose to become the highest-ranking military officer in the European army, fighting in the French Revolution and becoming a close ally and friend to Napoleon.

John Legend is on board to produce, and it will be interesting to see if he helps out on the soundtrack in some capacity. Fukunaga was supposed to begin work on Beasts of No Nation next month, a film which stars Idris Elba. If this is truly his next project as Deadline states, then it's possible there's been a delay on that one.