David Oyelowo Joins YA Sci-Fi Thriller ‘Chaos Walking’ as Another Villain

Doug Liman’s adaptation of YA sci-fi sensation Chaos Walking is building up a really promising cast. Tom Holland will be playing protagonist Todd, Daisy Ridley is his co-star Viola. Today brings news that David Oyelowo will be assisting Mads Mikkelsen as a second villainous militant character named Aaron.

Deadline reports that Aaron is “a controversial militant figure in the New World and the foe” to protagonists Todd and Viola, alongside Mikkelsen’s sinister Mayor Prentiss. Along with Oyelowo, Nick Jonas has recently joined the cast as the mayor’s son Davy, and Sons of Anarchy’s Kurt Sutter will be playing Todd’s adoptive father Cillian.

Chaos Walking is adapted from Patrick Ness’ YA series of books. Here’s the summary of the first one, The Knife of Never Letting Go:

Todd Hewitt is the only boy in a town of men. Ever since the settlers were infected with the Noise germ, Todd can hear everything the men think, and they hear everything he thinks. Todd is just a month away from becoming a man, but in the midst of the cacophony, he knows that the town is hiding something from him — something so awful Todd is forced to flee with only his dog, whose simple, loyal voice he hears too. With hostile men from the town in pursuit, the two stumble upon a strange and eerily silent creature: a girl. Who is she? Why wasn't she killed by the germ like all the females on New World? Propelled by Todd's gritty narration, readers are in for a white-knuckle journey in which a boy on the cusp of manhood must unlearn everything he knows in order to figure out who he truly is.

Chaos Walking is directed by Liman, with a screenplay jointly written by Ness, Charlie Kaufman, Gary Spinelli, Lindsey Beer, Jamie Linden, and John Lee Hancock.