With Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins already cast in John Carter of Mars as John Carter and Dejah Thoris respectively, that leaves only one, major lead role left to fill: the part of Tars Tarkas, John’s best friend and the first Martian he encounters when arriving on the planet. Variety says it’s going to Willem DaFoe.

Kitsch and Collins are still unknown variables so it’s great news that they’ve gone out and nabbed a veteran like DaFoe to fill the film’s other lead role. Plus it doesn’t hurt that he already sort of looks like an alien. It’s the part he was born to play. Tars Tarkas belongs to the more barbaric of Mars/Barsoom’s two native races. While Dejah Thoris’s people are human in appearance, Tarkas and his people are as alien and strange as it gets. Expect to see DaFoe under heavy prosthetics or strapped into a Gollum gimp costume for computer rendering after the fact.

In whatever form he shows up in the film, you’ll see a lot of him. Tarkas is a fierce warrior and a major player in Edger Rice Burroughs’ original stories, appearing in all of the books as he accompanies John on his various battles across the red planet.