Ben Foster has joined Legendary’s long-awaited ‘Warcraft’

Star Wars may have run Warcraft into 2016, but the latter certainly seems to have the upper hand for the moment. Although it faces far lower expectations (not to discount the Blizzard faithful) and thus far less need for secrecy when it comes to these sort of things, Warcraft has succeeded in locking down a number of cast members while the official count for Star Wars: Episode VII still stands at zero. Even counting the all-but-certain presence of Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford, Warcraft comes out on top thanks to today’s announcement that Ben Foster (Ain’t Them Bodies Saints), Toby Kebbell (Wrath of the Titans), and Robert Kazinsky (True Blood) have joined the previously announced Travis Fimmel (Vikings) and Paula Patton (Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol), with Dominic Cooper’s (Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter) involvement in the project expected to be finalized soon. 

Though it sat in development hell so long many wrote the film off, Warcraft now appears moving full speed into production. The project is being directed by Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code).

Star Wars, meanwhile, is feeling the schedule crunch with production at last announcement still expected to begin in the next few months despite the fact that no cast has been set. That hasn’t stopped the rumor mill from endlessly churning out names, but with Lawrence Kasdan and director J.J. Abrams reportedly overhauling the script, perhaps it’s not surprising that nothing’s been set. Online submissions for the Star Wars open casting call closed yesterday, so one way or another, it seems that the film’s leads ought soon to be cast.