Bloody-Disgusting reports that
Shane Brolly (
"CSI: NY") will return as Kraven in Lakeshore Entertainment's
Underworld: The Rise of the Lycans. He joins series veterans
Bill Nighy (
Pirates of the Caribbean) and
Michael Sheen (
Blood Diamond) and newcomer
Rhona Mitra (
Shooter) in the prequel being helmed by first-time director
Patrick Tatopoulos (
Independence Day), the F/X master who developed the creatures for the first two
Underworld films.
Series writer
Danny McBride scripted the origin story of the ancient blood feud between the aristocratic vampires known as Death Dealers and their one-time slaves, the Lycans (or werewolves). In the Dark Ages, young Lucian (Sheen) and his secret lover, Sonja (Mitra, right), rally the lycans to rise up against cruel vampire king Viktor (Nighy).
"For the first time we will experience the
Underworld universe through the eyes of the Lycans," co-producer
Len Wiseman, who directed the first two features, told Variety's TATIANA SIEGEL in October. Also, Wiseman told iF Magazine's SEAN ELLIOTT way back in June '06 that "we find out things we didn't know about Lucian; he'll have a much bigger part in it."
"I love playing that character," Sheen told EDWARD DOUGLAS of ComingSoon.net while promoting
The Queen. "It's great, and I'm always amazed by how popular the character is with people who are into that sort of genre thing. At my local pub in London, there used to be a young guy who worked there, and he freaked out because he suddenly realized I was Lucian from
Underworld."
DARREN BERMINGHAM at Cinema Blend commented favorably, in October '06, about the news of Lucian's (and Sheen's) centrality to the film, "seeing as he was probably the only interesting thing on screen when you couldn't see
Kate Beckinsale in her quasi-dominatrix get-up. He actually appeared to be able to act, and had one of the film's more interesting story arcs. But how long can this go on?"
Fans who fear that this "flashback" story is just a desperate attempt to continue the series without a disinterested franchise star (Beckinsale, left) and director (Wiseman) can take heart.
Live Free or Die Hard director Wiseman told iF's Elliott that the creators had been developing
Underworld 3 "for a while" and that "a lot of the writing [had] been done."
When asked if Beckinsale's character, Selene, would be involved in the story at all, Wiseman said that
Rise of the Lycans "will be in the time period before [Selene], but it will overlap into the creation of her as well. We're in the process of seeing how far we go with that."
Production on
Underworld: The Rise of the Lycans begins mid-January in Auckland, New Zealand.
P. Ryan Anthony
