Luc Besson gets Rihanna for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

Rihanna is about to go sci-fi.

Earlier today, Luc Besson took to Instagram to announce that the Grammy winner would be joining his next project – VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS – in a substantial role. Starring Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne and Clive Owen, the film is a space opera of sorts based on the global hit graphic novel from Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mezieres. It is believed that Rihanna might be portraying an alien of some type for the picture.

This wouldn’t be Rihanna‘s first time in a big-budget sci-fi blockbuster. She had a major role in BATTLESHIP, although we’d all hope this turns out a bit better than Peter Berg‘s board game adaptation. Most recently, she also voiced a character in the animated film HOME, which has a sci-fi element to it, dealing with an alien invasion and all. This is hardly unfamiliar territory for Rihanna, and it seems the more active she has become in Hollywood, the more comfortable she has appeared in her roles.

She certainly has an on-screen presence, as evidenced by any of her music videos… but she hasn’t quite been able to put it together for a feature film yet. Could Besson bring that out of her? After all, he did pull some good stuff out of his cast when he went sci-fi for THE FIFTH ELEMENT. Might we see something that good here? Fingers crossed.

VALERIAN AND THE CITY OF A THOUSAND PLANETS hits theaters on July 21, 2017.