It’s been a while since the last update on King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, the upcoming spin on Arthurian legend from Snatch and Sherlock Holmes director Guy Ritchie, but this week brings a fun one: the first look at Jude Law as the film’s villain, Vortigern.
Law joined the film in November 2014, but we’ve seen little of the movie’s cast outside of Charlie Hunnam’s Arthur since the project was first announced and went into production. Not only has the studio offered up the first look at Law in costume and some details about his character in the latest update, but the title of the film is also news of sorts, as the project had been known as Knights of the Round Table up to this point.
The photo of Law as Vortigern was revealed by Entertainment Weekly in a preview feature indicating that the character would be the murderer of Arthur’s father, Uther Pendragon (as played by Eric Bana), and possess some powerful magical abilities. The feature also includes a new image of Hunnam as Arthur.
Envisioned as an ambitious, six-film saga that reimagines the Arthurian legend, Ritchie’s plans for the series revolve around a version of Arthur that rises from the streets to become the leader of a rebellion before becoming king. The film’s story is inspired by Thomas Mallory’s 1485 compilation of Arthurian tales, Le Morte d’Arthur, with a script penned by Awake screenwriter Joby Harold.
Along with Hunnam as Arthur, Bana as Uther Pendragon, and Law as Vortigern, the film’s cast includes Astrid Berges-Frisbey (Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides) as Guinevere and Djimon Honsou (Guardians of the Galaxy) as Bedivere.
Warner Bros. Pictures has King Arthur: Legend of the Sword currently scheduled to hit theaters on February 17, 2017.
