‘Thor 2′ Star Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje Joins ‘Pompeii’

Although many people already know him as the mysterious Mr. Eko from 'Lost,' Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje is set to be seen by by an untold number of people later this year when he plays the villainous Kurse in 'Thor: The Dark World.' And it looks like he's not saying to any other high profile roles: he's just signed on to the join the cast of Paul W.S. Anderson's Roman epic 'Pompeii.'

The news comes via Variety, who report that Akinnuoye-Agbaje will play a gladiator and friend to the star of the film, Kit Harington (who you'll recognize as Jon Snow from 'Game of Thrones'). In addition to Harington, Akinnuoye-Agbaje's fellow cast members include Kiefer Sutherland, Emily Browning, Jared Harris and Carrie Ann Moss, making these the strangest Romans ever assembled for a film.

The film feels like a big departure for Anderson, whose past work has generally floated between the horror, science fiction and action genres. His most notable contribution to the world of film is the never-ending 'Resident Evil' series. Yeah, we'd want a change of pace, too.

In Variety's words, here's the plot of 'Pompeii':

“Pompeii,” written by Michael Robert Johnson, is set in the days leading up to the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius in A.D. 79 and tells the tale of an enslaved gladiator — played by Harington — who faces the tyrant (Sutherland) who years before murdered his family and now threatens to steal his lover (Browning). Jared Harris, Carrie-Anne Moss and Joe Pingue round out the cast.

Of course, anyone familiar at all with the title city will know what's going on during all of this drama (cough-volcano-cough). 'Pompeii' is set to go before cameras very soon for an unspecified 2014 release.