Jeffrey Dean Morgan set for horror film Shrine

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Jeffrey Dean Morgan is to star in 'Shrine'.

The 'Walking Dead' actor will take on the lead role in the Screen Gems movie, which will be based on James Herbert's horror novel.

According to Deadline, Evan Spiliotopoulos will direct the motion picture, and he will also produce alongside Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert.

The book tells the story of a disgraced journalist who manages to resurrect his career after discovering a number of "miracles" in his town in New England.

Production on the motion picture is due to get underway in February.

Morgan is no stranger to the genre having starred as arch-villain Negan in horror drama TV series 'The Walking Dead' since 2016.

The show is based on the comic book series by Robert Kirkman, and while the comics have now ended, the creator recently hinted Negan could have his own spin-off series.

He said: "It's possible that that's my escape hatch if my career takes a hard nosedive - I'll just roll out a Negan comic when I'm 42. But yeah, there's no plans as of yet, but there's an option there."

The long-running comic series came to a surprising end in July, a conclusion the writer and creator had planned and hidden for a long time.

Quizzed on whether Negan was still alive, Robert said: "Negan is alive. I think that's a cool tidbit. He's still out there, theoretically living in that farmhouse, so there might be a story to be told there."

As well as his TV career, Morgan is no stranger to the big screen, having starred in 'Watchmen', 'P.S. I Love You' and 'The Losers' among many other motion pictures.