EXCLUSIVE: Sources tell us that Emmy winner Yahya Abdul-Mateen II sustained a minor hand injury on Thursday while filming the Netflix series Man on Fire in Mexico City which forced production to pause.
Filming is expected to resume on Monday for the eight-episode drama series which is an adaptation of A.J. Quinnell’s first two books Man on Fire and The Perfect Kill, in the author’s five-novel thriller series.
Abdul-Mateen II is scheduled to return to work before production wraps for the holidays on Dec. 20, we hear. The filming schedule has been re-adjusted in the near term to work around the star’s absence. Abdul-Mateen II is also an EP on Man on Fire.
In Man on Fire, Abdul-Mateen II plays John Creasy, a once high-functioning and skilled Special Forces mercenary known for surviving even the most desolate of situations. He is now plagued with intense PTSD. Determined to overcome his personal demons, he sets out on a path to redemption. But before he can adjust to this new life, he finds himself back in the fire, fighting harder than ever.
Kyle Killen (Fear Street) is the writer, EP and showrunner of Man on Fire. EPs include Arnon Milchan, Yariv Milchan and Natalie Lehmann for New Regency Productions, which has the rights to the IP and financed the original 2004 Denzel Washington movie. Peter Chernin, Jenno Topping and Tracey Cook for Chernin Entertainment; and Killen and Scott Pennington for Chapter Eleven are EPs with Ed McDonnell, Michael Polaire and Stacy Perskie, who is an EP for RedRum. Transformers: Rise of the Beasts director Steven Caple Jr. is directing the first two episodes of Man on Fire and also serves as EP.
Netflix declined to comment.
Following Abdul-Mateen II’s Limited Series Supporting Actor Emmy win for HBO’s Watchmen, the actor went on to star in such movies as the 6x Oscar nominated Netflix title The Trial of the Chicago 7 as Bobby Seale, Candyman, Matrix Resurrections, Ambulance. The actor also starred in DC’s Aquaman franchise as Black Manta, as well as The Greatest Showman and Jordan Peele’s Us.
