Production on the young adult adaptation The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones begins next month, and now a few exciting casting additions have been announced.  Based on the first book in Cassandra Clare‘s novel series, the film centers on a young woman (Lily Collins) who discovers she is the descendant of a line of secret cadre of half-angel warriors locked in an ancient battle to protect the world from demons.  Jaime Campbell Bower is set as the male lead, Jace Wayland, and now it’s been announced that Game of Thrones actress Lena Headey, Mad Men’s Jared Harris, and Godfrey Gao (All About Women) have joined the cast.  Hit the jump for details on who each actor will be playing.

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The impeccably talented Headey is set as Jocelyn Fray, Collins’ mother whose disappearance incites the young girl’s quest.  Harris will play Hodge Starkweather, a former foot soldier of the book’s villain, Valentine, and current tutor to Collins and Bower’s characters.  Gao is poised to play Magnus Bane, the High Warlock of Brooklyn.  Still yet to be cast is the film’s villain, Valentine, but I assume we’ll hear word very soon.  Harold Zwart (The Karate Kid) will direct, with The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones set for release on August 23rd, 2013.  Read the press release below:

THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES

PRODUCTION UPDATE

New Cast Additions:

·       Lena Headey as “Jocelyn Fray” (300, DREDD, Game of Thrones,)

·       Jared Harris as “Hodge Starkweather” (SHERLOCK HOLMES: A GAME OF SHADOWS, Mad Men)

·       Godfrey Gao as “Magnus Bane” (ALL ABOUT WOMEN)

Previously Confirmed Cast:

·       Lily Collins as “Clary Fray” (MIRROR MIRROR, PRIEST, THE BLIND SIDE)

·       Jamie Campbell Bower as “Jace Wayland” (THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN, HARRY

POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HOLLOWS, Camelot)

·       Robert Sheehan as “Simon Lewis” (KILLING BONO, SEASON OF THE WITCH, Misfits)

·       Jemima West as “Isabelle Lightwood” (Maison Close, The Borgias)

·       Kevin Durand as “Emil Pangborn” (RESIDENT EVIL: RETRIBUTION, I AM NUMBER FOUR, Lost)

·       Robert Maillet as “Samuel Blackwell” (SHERLOCK  HOLMES, IMMORTALS, 300)

About the Books:

“The Mortal Instruments” is a series of six young adult fantasy books written by Cassandra Clare and published by Simon & Schuster/Margaret K. McElderry Books. In the series’ first book, the #1 New York Times bestseller “The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones”, set in contemporary New York City, a seemingly ordinary teenager, Clary Fray, discovers she is the descendant of a line of Shadowhunters, a secret cadre of young half-angel warriors locked in an ancient battle to protect our world from demons. After the disappearance of her mother, Clary must join forces with a group of Shadowhunters, who introduce her to a dangerous alternate New York called Downworld, filled with demons, warlocks, vampires, werewolves and other deadly creatures.

About the Film:

THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS: CITY OF BONES is a Constantin Film and Unique Features Production, directed by Harald Zwart (THE KARATE KID) from a screenplay by Jessica Postigo Paquette and I. Marlene King (Pretty Little Liars). Robert Kulzer is producing for Constantin Film alongside Don Carmody. Executive Producers are Bob Shaye and Michael Lynne for Unique Features and Martin Moszkowicz for Constantin Film. Principal photography will begin August 20, 2012 in Toronto, Ontario. Screen Gems will release in the United States August 23, 2013. Mister Smith Entertainment will handle foreign distribution for Constantin Film. Sony Pictures Consumer Products has acquired the licensing rights.  The film is a Canada-Germany Co-Production.