Alice Braga (Queen of the South) has joined the drama as a series regular, with Scoot McNairy (Halt & Catch Fire) and Paul Ben-Victor (The Wire) joining in recurring roles. Man on Fire is based on novels by A.J. Quinnell, which previously served as source material for a 2004 feature film starring Denzel Washington and a 1987 Italian film starring Scott Glenn.
The series, which Netflix ordered in March 2023, centers on John Creasy (Yahya Abdul-Mateen II), a former special forces mercenary who now suffers from intense PTSD. He is determined to overcome his personal demons and sets out on the path to redemption. But before he can adjust to his new life, he finds himself under fire again and fighting harder than ever.
Braga will play Valeria Melo, a professional driver with family ties to a gang that runs a favela (slum) in Brazil. Creasy hires her and soon relies on her as he tries to protect a young girl while pursuing terrorists.
McNairy plays Henry Tappan, an intelligent and calculating CIA agent in Brazil. Ben-Victor plays Moncrief, the director of the CIA.
The eight-episode thriller series comes from showrunner Kyle Killen (Halo). He is producing alongside Arnon Milchan, Yariv Milchan and Natalie Lehmann for New Regency Productions, which owns the rights to the film; Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping and Tracey Cook for Chernin Entertainment; Scott Pennington of Killen's Chapter Eleven; director Steven Caple Jr. (Creed II, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts), who directs the first two episodes; and Ed McDonnell, Michael Polaire, Abdul-Mateen and RedRum's Stacy Perskie.
