In Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter the 16th President will be fighting off a lot of fictional enemies-- namely the vampires, who in Seth Grahame-Smith's book were one of the chief causes behind the Civil War. But now Alan Tudyk has signed on to play one of Lincoln's adversaries who actually existed. According to Variety Tudyk has signed on to the Timur Bekmambetov-directed project to play Stephen A. Douglas, the politician whom Lincoln went head-to-head against in the famous 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates.

In this version of the story, Douglas isn't just a Democrat sympathizer to the Confederacy but a partner to the Southern vampires too. He'll be going up against Benjamin Walker as the titular future President, and joins a cast that already includes Anthony Mackie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Dominic Cooper, Jimmi Simpson, and Robin McLeavy. Tudyk, a geek favorite thanks to his work on Firefly and the kind of actor you're always glad to see in anything, makes yet another actor to sign on to the project who's not mega-famous but totally appealing, a sign that Bekmambetov really is trying to assemble the best and most interesting cast he can.

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter is set for release June 22, 2012, and as crazy as this sounds, it's already looking like one of the highlights of next summer. At least the hardcore Whedonites are gonna be with me on this.