asa-butterfield-michael-pena-natalie-dormer

We’ve got some casting news worth noting.  Here’s what’s coming at a glance:

Hit the jump for more on all three films.

spider-man-asa-butterfield
Image via Summit Entertainment

First up we’ve got Butterfield for Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.  He hasn’t received an offer for the role just yet, but The Wrap reports that it’ll likely happen soon.  Should Butterfield accept, he’ll play Jacob Portman, a 16-year-old boy who makes his way to a mysterious island where he finds what remains of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.  Now it’s up to Jacob to protect the school full of orphans with special powers from the evil creatures out to get them.  Eva Green is already on board to take the title role.  Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is set for a March 4, 2016 debut.

We’ve also got Pena making moves to join Matt Damon in Ridley Scott’s latest.  According to Variety, he’s currently in early negotiations for a role in the Fox sci-fi action film, The Martian.  The film is based on Andy Weir’s e-book and chronicles what happens when an astronaut is stranded on Mars and has to figure out how to get himself home.

There’s been quite a bit of casting going on for this one over the last few weeks.  It began with Jessica Chastain who apparently is still in talks for the female lead, then we got word that Mackenzie Davis was up for a “small but crucial role,” after which news broke that Kate Mara was offered a role in the film as well.  This one's due to hit theaters on November 25, 2015.

And lastly we’ve got Dormer leading Patient Zero for Screen Gems.  This one’s an action thriller about a global pandemic that sparks the evolution of a new species.  Those who are infected with a form of rabies become vicious predators.  Deadline doesn’t confirm this in their report, but I presume Dormer will play the  “inexplicably gifted human survivor with the ability to speak the new mutant language” who heads up the search for Patient Zero in an effort to find a cure.

natalie-dormer-patient-zero

Asa Butterfield Miss Peregrine