New cast members for John Carter of Mars film adaptation

According to Sci-Fi Wire, the cast continues to grow for John Carter of Mars, Disney’s upcoming live-action adaptation of Edgar Rice Burroughs‘ fantasy adventure books, with Thomas Haden Church, James Purefoy and Mark Strong joining already cast Taylor Kitsch, Samantha Morton, Dominic West, Polly Walker, Willem Dafoe and Lynn Collins.

According to the report, the newly cast roles could mean the new film combines elements of Burroughs’ first book in the series, A Princess of Mars, as well as the second and third, The Gods of Mars and The Warlord of Mars, respectively.

Church’s character is Tal Hajus, an ambitious and vicious Thark warrior that’s biding his time, for his chance to be a ruler, and Purefoy plays Kantos Kan, the captain of the Xavarian, the kingdom of Helium’s grand warship (a character from The Gods of Mars). Strong meanwhile, is set to play Matai Shang, the ruler of the Thems, who has godlike status (which is from The Warlord of Mars storyline).