Dexter Fletcher to reboot classic spy series 'The Saint'

Dexter Fletcher is to direct a reboot movie of the classic spy series The Saint.

According to Variety, it's hoped that the movie could become the first of a franchise for the Robin Hood-like character Simon Templar, made famous by Roger Moore in the 60s.

Fletcher, last seen helming Elton John biopic Rocketman with Taron Egerton, will be working from a script by Seth Grahame-Smith, writer of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and who's also penning the new Beetlejuice movie.

It's not the first time that the series has been brought to the screen, with director Philip Noyce helming a 1997 movie which starred Val Kilmer as Templar (it was panned by critics and failed to set the box office alight).

An attempt was also made to bring the series back in the US in 2013, with British actor Adam Rayner in the lead.

A movie was made, which featured Roger Moore's last appearance on screen, in the hope of spawning a new series, but it was not picked up, and the feature went straight to DVD in 2017.

It's not yet known who would play Templar in Fletcher's reboot.

The original series aired between 1962 and 1969, over six seasons and 118 episodes, with Moore playing the good-guy criminal who would come to the aid of those who needed his help, leaving a the calling card of a stick man with a halo at the scenes of his 'crimes'.

It was based on the prolific series of books by Leslie Charteris, published from the 1920s all the way up to the early 1960s.

Moore was approached repeatedly while making the series to play James Bond, eventually taking up the role once the show had ended.