The cast for director Gavin Hood’s (X-Men Origins: Wolverine) adaptation of Ender’s Game continues to take shape, as two high-profile thesps have joined the cast. Variety reports that Harrison Ford and Abigail Breslin have officially signed on for the high profile sci-fi project. We previously reported that Ford was being courted for the role of Colonel Hyram Graff, but given the actor’s prickly nature (and the lackluster performance of Cowboys & Aliens), I assumed he would ultimately pass on the role. Asa Butterfield (Hugo) is set as the titular character, a boy who’s recruited to develop military strategies in an attempt to prepare for an intergalactic battle. Hit the jump for more casting news regarding the project.enders-game-book-coverBreslin is set to play Ender’s older sister, with Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) attached as the boy’s ally and friend Petra and Ben Kingsley in talks to play seasoned soldier Mazer Rackham. Additionally, Aramis Knight (Rendition), Moises Arias (Hannah Montana), Jimmy Pinchak (Let Me In), Suraj Parthasarathy, Conor Carroll (Away We Go), and Khylin Rhambo have signed on.Knight will play Bean, a new recruit, Arias is Bonzo, commander of Salamander Army, Pinchack is Ender’s brilliant older brother Peter Wiggin, Parthasarathy is set as Alai, a recruit who befriends Ender, Carroll takes on Bernard, the leader of the new recruits and bully to Ender, and Rhambo will play Dink, a member of the Rat Army. As I’ve yet to read Ender’s Game I have absolutely no idea who these characters are, but the story sounds interesting and Ford’s involvement is definitely a plus. Production on the film is set to begin in early 2012 in New Orleans, with a release date of March 15th, 2013.Here’s the synopsis for Ender’s Game:

In order to develop a secure defense against a hostile alien race’s next attack, government agencies breed child geniuses and train them as soldiers. A brilliant young boy, Andrew “Ender” Wiggin lives with his kind but distant parents, his sadistic brother Peter, and the person he loves more than anyone else, his sister Valentine. Peter and Valentine were candidates for the soldier-training program but didn’t make the cut–young Ender is the Wiggin drafted to the orbiting Battle School for rigorous military training.

Ender’s skills make him a leader in school and respected in the Battle Room, where children play at mock battles in zero gravity. Yet growing up in an artificial community of young soldiers, Ender suffers greatly from isolation, rivalry from his peers, pressure from the adult teachers, and an unsettling fear of the alien invaders. His psychological battles include loneliness, fear that he is becoming like the cruel brother he remembers, and fanning the flames of devotion to his beloved sister.

Is Ender the general Earth needs? But Ender is not the only result of the genetic experiments. The war with the Buggers has been raging for a hundred years, and the quest for the perfect general has been underway for almost as long. Ender’s two older siblings are every bit as unusual as he is, but in very different ways. Between the three of them lie the abilities to remake a world. If the world survives, that is. [Amazon]