Will Leitch (BS ’98, journalism), author, sportswriter, contributing editor for New York magazine, and podcast co-host, will serve as executive producer of the movie adaptation of his latest novel Lloyd McNeil’s Last Ride.

Lionsgate purchased the rights to the novel, published by Harper in May, which focuses on Lloyd McNeil, a beat cop in Atlanta who only has months to live. When McNeil learns his teenage son would receive a higher pension if he died in the line of duty, he devises a plan.

“With audiences desperate for more original and authentic stories worthy of the big screen, we couldn’t be more excited to be the home for Will Leitch’s truly original tale following the indelible Lloyd McNeil,” said Erin Westerman, co-president of Lionsgate Motion Picture Group. “Through action, humor, and great pathos, his book serves at once as both a manual and an inspiration for how to live life to the fullest.”

Leitch, also the author of How Lucky (praised by Stephen King as “a fantastic novel”), is a former sports editor for The Daily Illini and was inducted into the Illini Media Hall of Fame in 2022.

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