'Highfire': Nicolas Cage To Voice A Washed Up, Alcohol-Loving Dragon In Amazon Adaptation

Over the course of his career, Nicolas Cage has played an angel, a con man, a thief, a treasure hunter, an animated mole, a sorcerer, a knight, and a black-and-white version of Spider-Man, just to name a few. Now he's finally adding "dragon" to his resume.

The famously eccentric actor will star in an executive produce Highfire, Amazon's adaptation of Artemis Fowl author Eoin Colfer's fantasy novel. Cage will voice a vodka-loving dragon who was once a fearsome force to be reckoned with, but who now spends his days drinking and binge-watching Netflix. Dear Amazon: I'd like to see this show immediately, please.

Deadline has the news about Hellfire, a Nicolas Cage dragon show that's being adapted by Davey Holmes, the guy behind Epix's television adaptation of Get Shorty. Described as "a gritty crime-thriller with doses of magical realism," the show centers on a dragon named Wyvern, Lord Highfire of the Highfire Eyrie...who now just goes by the name "Vern" and spends his time hiding out in the bayous of Louisiana drinking, wearing a Flashdance T-shirt, lighting cigarettes with his nose sparks, and binging Netflix in his La-Z-Boy recliner. But "when Vern's world collides with a human teen named Squib, who becomes mixed up in some trouble while running booze for the local mob, their mutual struggle for survival becomes entangled in the most unlikely of friendships."

That is an absolutely incredible premise, and the idea of bringing Cage on board to voice this dragon is particularly inspired, because everyone who loves his body of work for its sheer insanity will likely be on board to see him do something like this that he's never done before. While the most recent adaptation of Colfer's work was a creative disaster – the Artemis Fowl movie was dumped on Disney+ and ultimately spared the embarrassment of publicly eating shit with a theatrical release – I have to hope that this series will end up being better.

Elsewhere, Cage will soon be playing Tiger King's Joe Exotic in a new series, a janitor who battles possessed animatronic characters in a horror film called Wally's Wonderland, and a heightened version of himself in The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent opposite The Mandalorian actor Pedro Pascal.