His next film, the long-gestating spy picture "The Man From U.N.C.L.E," having recently been pushed back to next August, "Sherlock Holmes" helmer Guy Ritchie is already gearing up for his next project. The director’s long been developing a new take on the legend of King Arthur, Camelot and the Knights of the Round Table. The script is penned by "Awake" writer and "Edge Of Tomorrow" producer Joby Harold, and Ritchie landed his first cast member a few weeks back in the shape of the ever-awesome Idris Elba.
And now, Deadline and Variety report that he’s found both his main character and his female lead: the trades say "Sons Of Anarchy" and "Pacific Rim" star Charlie Hunnam will likely play King Arthur, and "Godzilla" and "Avengers: Age Of Ultron" actress Elizabeth Olsen is circling the role of his wife Guinevere.
Should the deals close, the pair would join Elba in the project, with the "Luther" actor playing Arthur’s mentor, a Merlin-type character called Belvedere. As you might imagine, Warners has big plans for the project: Harold was said to have pitched a six-film franchise, and we hear rumors that the studio is planning, with a crushing sense of inevitability, for the series to be a sort of medieval "Avengers," with characters getting spin-offs before teaming up around the Round Table. Yep, we’re rolling our eyes too. The first film, which has been referred to by the name "Knights Of The Roundtable: King Arthur," will hit theaters on July 22nd, 2016, and it’ll almost certainly be half as good as "Monty Python And The Holy Grail."