Omari Hardwick Joins Gerard Butler & Hayley Atwell In Hostage Crisis Pic ‘Empire City’; Filming Underway In Australia

EXCLUSIVE: Power and Army of the Dead star Omari Hardwick has joined Gerard Butler and Hayley Atwell in hostage crisis action-thriller Empire City, which is currently in production in Melbourne, Australia.

Empire City charts a hostage crisis that erupts inside New York’s Clybourn Building. Butler stars as Rhett, a firefighter who, alongside his squad and his NYPD wife Dani (Atwell), must fight and navigate his way through the building to rescue captives trapped inside. Hardwick will play Hawkins, the film’s antagonist.

Also joining the cast are Mel Jarnson (Mortal Kombat) as Hawkins’ right-hand operative, Leda. Fighting alongside Butler’s Rhett are squad members Tre Hale (Platonic), Michael Beach (Mayor of Kingstown), Dominic Bogart (American Primeval), Stephen Murphy (The Odyssey), and Jack DiFalco (Daredevil).

Directed by Michael Matthews (Love and Monsters), pic is produced by Marc Butan (Plane), Gerard Butler (Den of Thieves), Alan Siegel (Paris Has Fallen), and Paul Currie (Hacksaw Ridge). Screenplay is written by Brian Tucker (Secret Invasion) and S. Craig Zahler (Bone Tomahawk). Filming is around the half-way point in Australia.

It’s a good moment for Hardwick, who is best known for his role as James “Ghost” St. Patrick in the hit series Power and Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead. Upcoming he is starring in Paramount+ series Star Trek: Section 31 and Prime Video’s limited series The Greatest, about Muhammad Ali. He’s soon to begin on the Bosch prequel series Start Of Watch for MGM+. Last year, the actor earned a Grammy nomination for his spoken word poetry.

Hardwick is repped by UTA, Strand Management, and Sloane, Offer.