Henry Cavill confirms he will replace Tom Cruise in The Man From U.N.C.L.E.

What a difference a little Superman can make. With MAN OF STEEL looking amazing, Henry Cavill is suddenly being associated with tons of projects. One in particular was recently vacated by Tom Cruise and costars THE LONE RANGER himself, Armie Hammer.

Last week’s rumor is this week’s reality as MAN OF STEEL star Henry Cavill has confirmed that he is replacing Cruise in THE MAN FROM U.N.C.L.E. remake for director Guy Ritchie. Cavill originally auditioned for the Hammer part and now is taking the lead in the remake of the TV spy series.

The series centered on a two-man troubleshooting team working for U.N.C.L.E.: American Napoleon Solo (Robert Vaughn), and Georgian (Georgia-USSR) Illya Kuryakin (David McCallum). Leo G. Carroll played Alexander Waverly, the British head of the organization (Number One of Section One). Barbara Moore joined the cast as regular character Lisa Rogers in the fourth season. The chief enemy of the series was THRUSH. So dangerous was the threat from THRUSH that governments—even those most ideologically opposed, such as the United States and the USSR—had cooperated in the formation and operation of U.N.C.L.E. Similarly, on those occasions when Solo and Kuryakin held opposing political views, the friction between them in the storyline was held to a minimum.

Cavill will play Napoleon Solo while Hammer will portray Illya Kuryakin. No word on whether the show will be contemporary or remain set in the 1960s. It would be cool to see a retro spy movie but I would also be interested in seeing a potential competing franchise against Tom Cruise‘s MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE.

Cavill confirmed the role to USA Today, but remains a bit ambiguous as to where the project stands:

“Things are full-steam ahead. It’s all very early days. But it’s gonna happen,” Cavill says before pausing. “Well, this is Hollywood. It’s supposed to happen.”

Hopefully all the kinks get worked out and we see this project happen and get the proposed 2014 release.