James Marsden has been offered the Nicholas Sparks role that would have gone to Paul Walker, it was announced today.

Walker had signed on for “The Best Of Me” and “Agent 47” before his tragic death in a car accident on Thanksgiving weekend, and both films will still go on. “Agent 47” is an action film, a sequel to the 2007 hit “Hitman”, and will reportedly star Rupert Friend in the role Walker would have taken.

Marsden is well-known for his parts in the “X-Men” movies and recently did “Anchorman 2” and “Business Trip” with Vince Vaughn.

“The Best Of Me” will also star Michelle Monaghan and focuses on two former high-school sweethearts who reunite at their reunion twenty years later. According to MTV.com, the story focuses on “Amanda Collier and Dawson Cole, high-school sweethearts who went their separate ways after graduation. Twenty-five years later, Amanda and Dawson return to their hometown for the funeral of the man who supported their high-school romance. As the two are drawn back together, and drawn deeper into circumstances surrounding their mentor’s death, Amanda and Dawson learn that their past was not all that it seemed.”

Walker had been tapped for “Fast and Furious 7” at the time of his death, and the studio was forced to come up with a respectful way to retire his character from the franchise late last year.

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