AceShowbiz -

Set to launch another spy franchise after the "Bourne" series, Universal Pictures has obtained screen rights to a seven-book series of bestselling spy novels by Daniel Silva and is aiming to make "The Messenger", adapted from the author's 2006 work, as a possible first film.

In working on the goal, the studio has already assigned Pierre Morel to assume directing duties with Mark Gordon and Josh McLaughlin both producing via the Mark Gordon Co. Morrel, who marked his feature directorial debut in action sci-fi "District B13", just wrapped up filming on "Taken", a thriller about a former spy who dusts off his old skills after his daughter is kidnapped and sold into the slave trade.

Pic's story will likely stay true to the original material, the sixth book in the Silva series focusing on Gabriel Allon that began in 2000 with "The Kill Artist." A Mossad agent who has been part of the covert team that avenged the murder of Israeli athletes at Munich Olympics, Allon retires and becomes an art restorer following the deaths of his wife and child, both killed by a terrorist organization.