Ender's Game Adaptation Lands Brendan Meyer

Harrison Ford and Asa Butterfield in Ender's Game.
(Image credit: Lionsgate)

The cast of the upcoming adaptation of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Game is going to have a lot of young actors and there's a very good chance that we won't recognize a lot of them. While Hugo’s Asa Butterfield is attached to play the title role and Hailee Steinfeld is in talks to play Petra, the rest of the adolescent/teenage cast will probably be filled with newcomers and fresh-faces. For example Canadian actor Brendan Meyer, who, according to THR, is the newest addition to the cast.

The trade says that Meyer will play Stilson in the film. While it's not a large part, the character is involved in a violent scene early in the story that has a large effect on Ender and influences him greatly. Now 17, Meyer has been acting since he was 11 and has done a mix of both television and film work in his short career, including 2010's Tooth Fairy with Dwayne Johnson, Canadian series Mr. Young, and the upcoming McG film This Means War. As reported previously, Ben Kingsley is also in talks for a role in the film, which will be written and directed by Gavin Hood (X-Men Origins: Wolverine). Alex Kurtzman and Roberto Orci are signed on as producers and Summit Entertainment co-financing and handling distribution.

Seventeen is a bit old for an adaptation of Ender's Game, but Meyer does have a young look so perhaps they can get away with it. We've discussed it before, but there was no way they were going to make an adaptation of the book using the character's real ages, so we'll just have to deal with it.

Eric Eisenberg
Assistant Managing Editor

Eric Eisenberg is the Assistant Managing Editor at CinemaBlend. After graduating Boston University and earning a bachelor’s degree in journalism, he took a part-time job as a staff writer for CinemaBlend, and after six months was offered the opportunity to move to Los Angeles and take on a newly created West Coast Editor position. Over a decade later, he's continuing to advance his interests and expertise. In addition to conducting filmmaker interviews and contributing to the news and feature content of the site, Eric also oversees the Movie Reviews section, writes the the weekend box office report (published Sundays), and is the site's resident Stephen King expert. He has two King-related columns.