Paramount Pictures has acquired the rights to John Scalzi‘s novel, Old Man’s War. Troy and Poseidon director Wolfgang Petersen is attached to direct and Scott Stuber (Battleship, 47 Ronin) will produce the adaptation, which is the first in a series of four books.

Deadline reports that David Self (Road To Perdition) will adapt the novel, which centers on John Perry, a 75 year-old, retired writer who joins the Colonial Defense Forces, an intergalactic Earth military. The CDF’s soldiers are placed in updated versions of their own bodies and have their DNA enhanced by nanotechnology. Scalzi’s original novel was followed by three sequels, The Ghost Brigades, The Last Colony and Zoe’s Tale.

No production or release dates for Old Man’s War have been announced.