Sylvester Stallone to Lead Antoine Fuqua Mafia TV Drama ‘Omerta’

We’ve seen Sylvester Stallone flirt with TV before, usually in producing, but now Rocky himself may take the leap fulltime. The legendary star has signed on as the lead of Antoine Fuqua’s unattached mafia series Omerta, based on the final novel in Godfather creator Mario Puzo’s mob trilogy.

Per The Hollywood Reporter, the three-time Oscar nominee will both executive produce, and take his first regular TV role for the project, which will soon shop to cable and streaming outlets. The posthumous Omerta follows Puzo’s previous mafia novels, The Last Don and The Godfather, while Stallone is presumably eyed for Omerta’s central mafia head.

The 2000 novel follows New York Don Raymonde Aprile and his young “nephew” Astorre over the course of many years, as Aprile raises the orphan boy alongside his children into an enforcer. Aprile’s attempts at retirement and legitimacy prove more complicated than expected, drawing Astorre further into a tale of vengeance, morality and power.

A pilot episode could shoot as early as this summer, directed by Fuqua under his first-look TV deal with the Weinstein Company. Who will end up the highest bidder for Stallone’s Omerta?