Lew Archer novels being developed into a film franchise by Warner Bros.

Ross Macdonald's mystery series about private detective Lew Archer is being turned into a feature film franchise. Deadline reports that Warner Bros has bought film rights to the series, and will develop 1959's The Galton Case, the eighth novel in the series. The character has been given a new life thanks to Silver Pictures’ Joel Silver who will produce. 

Archer is "a private eye who cracked dangerous cases in Southern California in the 1950s and 60s." In The Galton Case, Archer is "hired to track down the lost heir to the Galton fortune. His path leads him through a trail of murder, deception and a tangle of secrets." The studio will hire a writer soon to script what they see as an elevated noir franchise. Paul Newman played the character of Archer in the 1966 Warner Bros film Harper and 1975 film The Drowning Pool.

I think that this story sounds a bit like Girl With The Dragon Tattoo in terms of the story. I enjoy suspenseful mystery thrillers and am interested in learning about casting news for this project. Newman is such an iconic actor, and I am sure he was great, but I would like to see an up and coming actor in the role.

What are your thoughts?