A high-profile film adaptation of the original Kane & Lynch game—developed by acclaimed studio IO Interactive and released in 2007—was long rumored to be in development. Over the years, the project attracted interest from several big-name Hollywood actors and filmmakers.

Recently, director Timo Tjahjanto, known for The Night Comes for Us and Nobody 2, took to social media to confirm that he had written a treatment for a potential Kane & Lynch movie starring David Harbour—best known for his roles in Stranger Things and the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “Never seen a script, but a couple years ago when that property was still kind of hot,” Tjahjanto wrote. “I wrote a short treatment with James Badge Dale and David Harbour in mind. Never gotten anywhere.”

The Kane & Lynch movie appears to be stalled indefinitely. Photo by Gilbert Flores/Variety via Getty Images

Tjahjanto isn't alone in seeing a Kane & Lynch film slip through his fingers. The project has been circling Hollywood for years, with numerous iterations and high-profile names attached. At one point, Bruce Willis and Jamie Foxx were linked to the film, though both eventually dropped out amid ongoing script revisions.

Another version reportedly featured Gerard Butler and Vin Diesel in the lead roles, yet this too failed to move beyond early development stages.

After the release of the underwhelming sequel Kane & Lynch: Dog Days in 2010, IO Interactive shifted its focus away from the franchise and back toward its more successful Hitman series, leaving Kane & Lynch in limbo.

For now, fans will have to remain satisfied with the games, as the cinematic vision for the troubled duo shows no signs of materializing.