Luke Evans joins the cast of Roland Emmerich’s WWII action movie Midway

Last Updated on August 5, 2021

Sure, Roland Emmerich's movies typically aren't critically acclaimed award-winners, but the man sure has a knack for staging large-scale destruction. Emmerich's next big-budget epic will be MIDWAY, a World War II action flick which will tell the story of the famed Battle of Midway, considered by many to be a turning point in America’s battle against Japan. Six months after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, U.S. code-breakers were able to determine the time and place of another attack by the Japanese Navy which enabled the U.S. Navy to prepare its own ambush and defeat the Imperial Japanese Navy over the course of a four day battle. Woody Harrelson and Mandy Moore are already on board to star in MIDWAY and now THR reports that Luke Evans (The Alienist) will be joining them.

Luke Evans is slated to play Commander Wade McClusky, who would go on to win a Naval Cross for his actions during Midway. Woody Harrelson will play Admiral Chester Nimitz, one of the officers who led the American naval fleet. Mandy Moore's role hasn't yet been revealed. Roland Emmerich spoke about the film two years ago, saying that at the time of the battle, the Americans were the underdogs. "It was one of those moments where, against all odds, people came together and did the impossible," Emmerich said. "A lot of pilots died in this battle. I want to make a monument to them and it would be great to make a movie about it."

Luke Evans has several projects in the works, but is currently shooting the upcoming Netflix comedy MURDER MYSTERY which will star Adam Sandler and Jennifer Aniston. "When a NYC cop (Adam Sandler) finally takes his wife (Jennifer Aniston) on a long promised European trip, a chance meeting on the flight with a mysterious man (Luke Evans) gets them invited to an intimate family gathering on the Super Yacht of elderly billionaire Malcolm Quince. When Quince is murdered, they become the prime suspects in a modern-day whodunit." The Netflix film is expected to debut next year.