George Clooney is finally set to make his Broadway debut

He said in a statement: "I am honored, after all these years, to be coming back to the stage and especially, to Broadway, the art form and the venue that every actor aspires to."

He will play journalist Edward R. Murrow, who was originally played by David Strathairn in the 2005 film, while Clooney actually played his collaborator Fred W. Friendly.

He penned the journalism drama with Grans Heslov, and the pair will once again collaborate on the Broadway adaptation, although David Cromer is stepping into direct instead of the Hollywood star.

Cromer added: "Edward R. Murrow operated from a kind of moral clarity that feels vanishingly rare in today's media landscape.

"There was an immediacy in those early live television broadcasts that today can only be effectively captured on stage, in front of a live audience."

The historical drama focuses on 1950s television news in the United States, and the conflict between broadcaster Murrow, and Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Clooney is following in the footsteps of Steve Carell and Rachel McAdams, who made their own Broadway debuts in the most recent season.

And just last week, it was revealed Robert Downey Jr will tread the boards on Broadway for the first time in new play McNeal by Pulitzer prize winner Ayad Akhtar.

The production tells the story of a struggling writer dealing with "an estranged son, a new novel, old axes to grind and an unhealthy fascination with artificial intelligence".

The 'Iron Man' actor's last appearance on stage came in 1983 as part of off-Broadway show 'American Passion'.

He said in a statement: "It's been 40 years since I was last on 'the boards', but hopefully I'll knock the dust off quick."