EXCLUSIVE: Benedict Wong (Weapons) has joined the cast of The Dog Stars, Ridley Scott’s post-apocalyptic thriller based on the novel by Peter Heller.
Character details are under wraps. Wong joins an ensemble led by Jacob Elordi, which also includes Margaret Qualley, Josh Brolin, and Guy Pearce. Currently shooting in Italy, the film reunites the actor with Scott following the duo’s work together on Prometheus (2012) and The Martian (2015).
Published in 2012, The Dog Stars is set in a near future where an unnamed pandemic has decimated American society. The story follows Hig (Elordi), a civilian pilot living a lonely life on an abandoned Colorado airbase with his dog and a tough ex-marine (Brolin). The two men couldn’t be more mismatched but depend on each other to fend off roaming invaders. When a random transmission beams through the radio of his 1956 Cessna, the voice ignites a hope deep inside the pilot that a better life exists outside their tightly controlled perimeter. Risking everything, he flies past his point of no return and follows its static-broken trail.
Script is by Mark L. Smith, the veteran scribe behind Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s The Revenant. Scott is producing alongside Scott Free president Michael Pruss, as well as Smith and Cliff Roberts.
Best known for his MCU role of Wong in myriad projects, beginning with 2016’s Doctor Strange, Wong will next be seen starring alongside Brolin, Julia Garner, and Alden Ehrenreich in Warner Bros’ Weapons, one of the buzziest horror films of the year, from Barbarian helmer Zach Cregger, which is slated to open on August 8. Once Wong is done with The Dog Stars, he’s on to the set of Netflix’s 3 Body Problem, as production launches on Season 2.
Other film credits for the actor include Annihilation, The Personal History of David Copperfield, Moon, and Nine Days. Also known for turns in series like Marco Polo, Deadly Class, and Top Boy, he’s represented by attorney Robert Wallerstein at Hirsch, Wallerstein, Hayum.
