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Prequel planned for Oscar-winning cop thriller 'Training Day’ set around the LA Riots

Ethan Hawke and Denzel Washington in Training Day (Credit: Warner Bros)
Ethan Hawke and Denzel Washington in Training Day (Credit: Warner Bros)

A prequel to Antoine Fuqua's Oscar-winning 2001 cop thriller Training Day is reportedly being developed by the Warner Bros studio.

According to Collider, it will set the action in the days leading up to the LA riots in 1992, just prior to the verdict which cleared three LAPD officers of assaulting construction worker Rodney King.

The acquittal ignited a tinder box of racial tension in the city, and resulted in six days of violent civil unrest which saw the Governor of California Pete Wilson call in the National Guard.

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It is set to be made from a Black List script – the list of the best unmade scripts doing the rounds in Hollywood – from writer Nick Yarborough, and will find the action centring around a young Alonzo Harris, the character played by Denzel Washington in the first movie.

Collider is even suggesting a possibility that Washington's son, BlacKkKlansman star John David Washington, currently leading the new Christopher Nolan movie Tenet for Warner Bros, could potentially step into the role.

The movie found Ethan Hawke's rookie cop partnered with Washington's highly decorated - but also highly corrupt - detective in a plot arc over 12 hours, and featured cameo roles for the likes of Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Macy Gray and Terry Crews.

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It was the breakthrough script for David Ayer, who would go on to write and direct movies like Harsh Times, End of Watch, Sabotage, Fury, with Brad Pitt, and Suicide Squad (he also had a small acting role as a Russian hitman in Training Day).

Though it was a box office failure, it won Washington the Oscar for Best Actor in 2002, and earned Hawke a Best Supporting Actor nomination.

Then in 2015, it was announced that a TV series based on the movie was in development for CBS.

Starring the late Bill Paxton, it aired in 2017 but was cancelled after just one season.