Jason Bateman has joined Taron Egerton in the cast of 'Carry On'.

The 53-year-old actor is set to star in the thriller from Netflix and Steven Spielberg's Amblin Productions that will be directed by Jaume Collet-Serra.

The movie centres on Ethan Kopek - a young TSA agent who gets blackmailed by a mysterious traveller to allow a dangerous package to slip through security and onto a Christmas Day flight.

Sources close to the film say that Jason will be playing the mysterious traveller.

TJ Fixman wrote the original draft of the screenplay and Michael Green has completed the latest polish.

Dylan Clark will produce while Holly Bario – Amblin's president of production – will oversee on behalf of the studio.

Insiders had previously suggested that Taron wanted to star in the movie as soon as he had read the script and has forged a good working relationship with Collet-Serra.

Bateman has worked with Netflix on the hit series 'Ozark', in which he has both directed and starred in as Marty Bryde, and has explained how he loves the thrill of being behind the camera.

He said: "The acting part is less interesting for me only because that's the part that's obviously most familiar and most comfortable.

"So, it is the camera work that is everything to me. I will do a lot of work on my own to create every image that we end up doing.

"I have everything worked out in my head as far as where the actors will walk, where they sit, where they'll talk, or where the cameras are going to be - all the images. [I do this so I can] discover the best way for the visuals to amplify - or the opposite, offset - what the scene is about."