Oliver Stone’s Edward Snowden Film Eyes ‘Justified’ Star Timothy Olyphant

So, what’s next for Timothy Olyphant now that Justified is coming to an end? The actor appears to be making the leap back to the big screen, and is currently being eyed for a role in Oliver Stone’s untitled Edward Snowden film. Snowden is the subject of Laura Poitras’ acclaimed documentary Citizenfour, which is the frontrunner to take home the Best Documentary Feature Oscar at this Sunday’s Academy Awards. But Poitras’ documentary doesn’t appear to be the last we’ll hear on the subject.

Stone is set to direct a new film about Snowden, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt as the NSA whistleblower. Shailene Woodley is co-starring in the film as Snowden’s girlfriend, while Deadline reports that Olyphant is in negotiations to play a CIA agent who befriended Snowden before he went to Russia to seek asylum. Snowden leaked thousands of classified documents from his time working as a contractor for the NSA, revealing details on dubious global intelligence programs.

The former contractor was the focus of Citizenfour, in which his meetings with journalists Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras were documented as he released classified documents from the NSA and worked to evade repercussions from the government.

Stone’s film, which is still untitled, is based on various sources, including the novel Time of the Octopus, written by Snowden’s Russian lawyer Anatoly Kucherena. The novel tells the story of an American whistleblower who flees to Russia, and the communications with his lawyer while waiting for the country to decide whether it will grant the asylum he seeks. Stone also has the rights to Luke Harding’s book The Snowden Files: The Inside Story Of The World’s Most Wanted Man.