Justin Marks (born April 27, 1980)Β is an American screenwriter, producer and television showrunner. He is best known for writingΒ Disney's live-action remake ofΒ The Jungle Book,Β co-writing Top Gun: Maverick, and for creating and showrunning theΒ StarzΒ espionage thriller Counterpart.
One of the first scripts he penned wasΒ Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun LiΒ forΒ 20th Century Fox. A year prior, he had written a script for a potentialΒ He-ManΒ film. Initially entitled Grayskull: The Masters of The Universe, the script was praised by fans yet was never used since the script was rewritten, with the film still being inΒ development hell.
In July 2013, Marks was hired byΒ DisneyΒ to write a live-action adaptation ofΒ The Jungle Book. Jon FavreauΒ came on board as director, and the film was released in April 2016. In June 2015, it was revealed that Marks was working on the screenplay for a sequel to the 1986 filmΒ Top Gun. The film, titledΒ Top Gun: Maverick, was released in theaters in May 2022, with Marks credited with co-writing the film's story withΒ Peter Craig.
In 2016, Marks was working on aΒ Jungle BookΒ sequel with Favreau returning as director.
Marks created the Starz science-fiction thrillerΒ Counterpart, starringΒ J. K. Simmons. The show was ordered straight-to-series for two 10-episode seasons. The first episode premiered December 10, 2017.
In 2020, Marks and his wifeΒ Rachel KondoΒ started working onΒ the TV adaptationΒ ofΒ Shogun, the famous novel byΒ James Clavell. It released in 2024 to critical acclaim.
