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More cast members have been added to MGM+'s upcoming remake of The Magnificent Seven, including Ethan Hawke's replacement.
The original film was released in 1960 with Yul Brynner, Steve McQueen, Horst Buchholz, Charles Bronson, Robert Vaughn, Brad Dexter and James Coburn. Antoine Fuqua directed a remake in 2016 with Hawke, Denzel Washington, Chris Pratt, Vincent D'Onofrio, Peter Sarsgaard, Luke Grimes and Matt Bomer that grossed $162 million at the box office.
With filming currently taking place in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, Deadline reports that Fargo's Joshua Close, The Wolverine's Ken Yamamura, Lucky Number Slevin's Michael Rubenfeld and Your Fault: London's Joel Nankervis have joined the cast of The Magnificent Seven as Skelton, Kenjiro “Kenji,” Eli “Wick” Kagan and Jebidah “Jeb” Campbell, respectively.
Close's character serves as a new version of Goodnight Robicheaux, played by Hawke in 2016's The Magnificent Seven. Skelton is a former Confederate raider who becomes a bounty killer. He doesn't believe in morality, especially in a lawless society, and is described as being cold and calculating.
Skelton is chosen by Clemons (Will Patton) to take charge of an army, but the latter gets more than he bargained for because the bounty killer is uncontrollable.
Yamamura's Kenji has experienced a lot of pain and loss in his life, including the murder of his father and witnessing the destruction of the samurai class in Japan after being trained as a samurai. He took revenge on his father's killer and then left for America, seeking a new beginning. Despite everything he's been through, Kenji is a joyful and warm person who's always curious about the world around him.
Wick, played by Rubenfeld, is an inventor whose childhood was marred by illness, leading him to stay inside and read about mechanical engineering. Nankervis' character, Jeb, is a teenage Quaker who's an impulsive, quick-witted, and carefree individual. He defies the nonviolent teachings of his people by worshipping gunslingers and claiming that fighting is the only choice after his village is ambushed.
Matt Dillon, Patton, Michael Ealy, Danny Pino, Joanne Froggatt and Amy Forsyth are already a part of The Magnificent Seven cast as Chris Adams, Cyrus T. Clemons, Vin Tanner, Santiago "Santi" Vega, Harriet Talbot and Katie "Deadeyes" Dalton, respectively.
Crossing Jordan and Heroes creator Tim Kring is spearheading MGM+'s remake of The Magnificent Seven as writer and executive producer. Dillon, Donald De Line, Lawrence Mirisch and Bruce Kaufman also serve as executive producers.
Like its predecessors, this new version takes place on the American frontier in the 1880s as a group of mercenaries (the titular seven) are tasked with protecting a village from other mercenaries who are taking their orders from an evil baron intent on taking control of the land.
Honor, sacrifice, morality, redemption, and faith are at the center of the story, as the characters are forced to reckon with their decisions. While the 1960 film, directed by John Sturges, earned rave reviews and a Certified Fresh score of 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, the 2016 remake of The Magnificent Seven landed a 64% score, with mixed-to-positive reviews from critics.
Now MGM is working on an eight-episode small-screen rendition of The Magnificent Seven, which does not have a premiere date yet.
