The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen Remake: 13 Actors Who Should Be Cast

Just when you thought it would never happen, Fox have unthinkably resurrected The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen. No doubt buoyed by the success of other unified comic book universes, the studio are setting their stall out to start another. And there's no doubting the potential, even if the first adaptation bombed terribly.

The film clearly has to get the main team right. Last time out the casting was mostly ok: Connery was a fairly obvious choice for Quatermain, and everyone else did admirably to rescue anything out of the God-awful script, even if they weren't actually top drawer actors. Only Shane West's insufferable Tom Sawyer really grates, while Richard Roxburgh's Moriarty just wasn't all that threatening in the end.

Clearly there are some characters who definitely shouldn't appear - Babar The Elephant would be an odd proposition at best - but there is an opportunity to finally cast off the sins of the past and actually channel the real spirit of the comics properly, including in bringing in the right characters.

Hopefully, the new adaptation will focus on the most recognisable "core" team before expanding out for potential sequels (assuming it doesn't flop as spectacularly as its predecessor), with newer additions like Sawyer and Dorian Grey avoided to begin with (if only to avoid direct comparisons). With that in mind, there are a lot of casting decisions to be made right if Fox are to turn fans back on to the big screen potential of the series...

The Great White Hunter and sometimes immortal isn't actually what most casual fans might expect. He's not quite the swash-buckling, whip-slinging hero of a Steven Spielberg adventure film. He's small, wiry, not particularly athletic, but powered by a stunning ability with a gun that defines him (and entraps him in later life as he's forced to hunt for a living despite hating it).

In terms of the League, he's an important element, but he's not the leader he was in the first film (an obligation no doubt rooted in the casting of Sean Connery) and the casting and writing of the character should reflect that.

Who Should Play Him?

As much as Connery and Sam Worthington (briefly cast in 2010 for the mysteriously invisible King Solomon's Mines film) suggest Quatermain is an Indiana Jones like action hero, that's not the case in the original books. He's basically a grown-up Harry Potter, wiry and unimposing, whose prowess with a gun made him the legend of hunting, rather than his general physical appearance. So casting an action hero type wouldn't be exactly right.

Instead going with someone like John Hurt: a paternal sort of figure who actually physical resembles the original description of Quatermain would be far more fitting. And you can't argue with his ability as an actor.