TNT and Warner Bros. Television are joining forces on AVENGER, an international thriller based on the bestselling novel by legendary author Frederick Forsyth (The Day of the Jackal, The Fist of God), it was announced today by Michael Wright, senior vice president of original programming for TNT. Sam Elliott (Mask, TNT's Conagher, We Were Soldiers) is set to star in the two-hour TNT Original movie as a small-town lawyer and former Special Forces operative who hires himself out to those seeking to avenge the violent murders of loved ones. AVENGER comes to TNT from Radiant Productions, with Radiant's founder, two-time Oscar® nominee Wolfgang Petersen (Troy, The Perfect Storm, Das Boot), serving as executive producer. Rosemary Tarquinio (The Agency) serves as co-executive producer on the movie, which is being directed by Robert Markowitz (The Tuskegee Airmen) from a script by Alan Sharp (Reversible Errors, Rob Roy), with Larry Spiegel and Judy Goldstein serving as producers. AVENGER is set to go before cameras this fall for premiere on TNT in 2006.

AVENGER tells the story of Cal Dexter (Sam Elliott), whose duty during the Vietnam War was to locate and destroy the jungle hideouts of the enemy. But today he's nothing more than a simple attorney in Washington D.C. Or so it seems to most. Covertly, he has been hired by a tycoon to track down and deliver justice to the man who killed his son, an American aid worker in Bosnia. As the quest takes Dexter around the globe, CIA agent Frank McBride (Timothy Hutton) must stop him before his mission of vengeance throws the world into chaos.

"AVENGER delivers drama with an intensity that viewers have come to expect from TNT, and we couldn't be more thrilled to have two talents like Wolfgang Petersen and Sam Elliot tackling this project," Wright said. "This international thriller is the latest commitment in our long-standing original programming line-up."

Elliott's career, which spans nearly four decades, includes such big-screen features as The Legacy, Mask, Fatal Beauty, Prancer, Tombstone, Gettysburg, The Big Lebowski, The Contender, We Were Soldiers, Hulk and Off the Map. He has also starred in such television movies and miniseries as Murder in Texas, The Shadow Riders, Yellow Rose, Buffalo Girls, the live television production of Fail-Safe and the TNT Originals Conagher, which he also wrote; Rough Riders; and You Know My Name. His upcoming projects include Thank You for Smoking, Ghost Rider, The Final Season and Barnyard. Elliott met his wife, actress Katharine Ross, when he played a bit part in the movie Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Petersen shot to international attention in 1981 as the director of the German film Das Boot, which earned him Oscar® -nominations for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay. He followed the success of that film with a string of hits, including The Neverending Story, Shattered, In the Line of Fire, Outbreak, Air Force One, The Perfect Storm and Troy. Through his production company, Radiant Productions, he has executive-produced such films as Bicentennial Man, Instinct and Red Corner. He also developed the television series The Agency. His upcoming projects include Shutter Island, Ender's Game, Bullitt and Old Man and the Gun. Petersen is currently filming the remake of The Poseidon Adventure.