War is brewing on the planet of the apes, but it won’t be an entirely lower level primate-led affair. It appears 20th Century Fox and director Matt Reeves are ramping things up for the third new Planet of the Apes film, War of the Planet of the Apes, as THR reports that actor Gabriel Chavarria has landed one of the human lead roles in the film. Chavarria has appeared on the TV series East Los High and stars in the upcoming drama Low Riders, but War of the Planet of the Apes certainly marks the actor’s biggest project to date.

At this point it’s unclear what kind of character Chavarria will be playing, and indeed we still know very little about the new Apes film. Reeves returns after helming the critically praised Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, as does scribe Mark Bomback, and Reeves previously teased the fact that the next film would see Andy Serkis’ Caesar becoming a Moses figure for his kind, leading his people through a war he tried so hard to prevent.

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Image via Hulu

Dawn dropped the human cast from Rise of the Planet of the Apes in favor of new actors and a time jump, so it’ll be interesting to see if that trend continues with War. The Apes series is really one of the most fruitful franchises in history, using its premise to comment on issues relevant to the world at large through the 1960s and 70s iterations. Reeves continued that tradition with the introduction of guns to the ape world in Dawn, so I’m also curious to see what War of the Planet of the Apes has to say about humanity’s relationship with the concept of, well, war.

Filming will likely get underway either late this year or early next year in anticipation of War of the Planet of the Apes’ July 14, 2017 release date, so look for more casting news soon.

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Image via 20th Century Fox