Keri Russell Joins Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes

Matt Reeves has quickly been putting together the cast for Dawn of the Planet of the Apes over the last few weeks, and he's been doing a pretty exceptional job picking up talent. While having Andy Serkis returning is the ace up the project's sleeve, additions set to play human characters include Jason Clarke, Kodi-Smit McPhee and Gary Oldman, meaning that it's already playing with a stacked deck. Today it only gets better.

Keri Russell, most recently seen in the sci-fi thriller Dark Skies and on the currently running series The Americans on FX, has signed on for a mystery role in the Rise of the Planet of the Apes sequel. Variety, which revealed the casting, says that the story will begin more than a decade after the end of the last movie and be set in a world where apes have all but completely wiped out humanity. Previous reports have said that Gary Oldman will be the leader of a human colony and that part of the plot will center on a group of scientists trying to find a way to stop the apes in a San Francisco lab.

Assuming that Russell is playing another human character, I'm curious if any other known actors will join Serkis as an ape in the sequel. Obviously the performance that the English star gave in the last movie was phenomenal and is undoubtedly intimidating, but I wonder if there will be an actor willing to take the challenge in going up against him.

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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.