Idris Elba in talks to join the cast of Wes Ball’s Mouse Guard

THE MAZE RUNNER's Wes Ball is developing an adaptation of David Peterson's "Mouse Guard" comic series and the cast for the film is beginning to come together. It was revealed several weeks ago that Andy Serkis (MOWGLI) and Thomas Brodie-Sangster (Godless) had joined the cast and now THR has reported that Idris Elba (AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR) is in final negotiations to join up as well.

The comic series takes place in a world of sentient mice who live in the medieval era and revolves around the Mouse Guard, a brotherhood of mice who have sworn to protect the common mouse against threats of predator, weather, and wilderness. Idris Elba is set to play Celanawe, "an Obi-Wan Kenobi-like figure who was once a legendary champion and now thought long gone." A badass mouse voiced by Idris Elba? Sounds about right. Thomas Brodie-Sangster will be playing Lieam, one of the newest and youngest members of the Mouse Guard who will be called upon to prove his bravery, with Andy Serkis playing Midnight, the Mouse Guard's blacksmith who turns against it. MOUSE GUARD will be shot using motion-capture with WETA providing the digital effects and production is expected to kick off in May.

While speaking with Coming Soon last year, Wes Ball explained that he wants to fully explore the harsh world of the "Mouse Guard" comics while still appealing to all ages.

The trick with this one is we have to thread that needle with tone. I’m not interested in doing a DreamWorks or Pixar-type movie, I’m interested in doing something closer to Planet of the Apes where you’re really gonna nail characters and show the harsh reality of what they live in. It’s gonna be a little bit of both, probably, but at the same time because of the cost I need as big an audience as possible. So I want 10-year olds to see this as much as 40 and 50-year olds, you know? That’s the needle we have to thread, but for me personally… the way Star Wars appealed to me as a kid growing up hit that tone in a weird way. It appealed to the kid in everybody but still took itself seriously. That’s really exciting to me, that kind of film, that kind of target, but obviously set in this really harsh world of mice and swords.

Idris Elba will next be seen facing off against Dwayne Johnson and Jason Statham in FAST & FURIOUS PRESENTS: HOBBS & SHAW on August 2, 2019.