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It looks like Mads Mikkelsen is in talks to play the villain in the the Chaos Walking YA movie adaptation with Daisy Ridley and Tom Holland.

One one had it's got a great director in Doug Liman (The Bourne Identity, Edge of Tomorrow) with a pair of solid young leads, but on the other hand there's been some definite YA fatigue. I loved The Hunger Games movies. I went to see the first one completely blind and came out a total fan. I read all three books in one week and threw myself head first into the fandom and the fic. It's why I got a Tumblr. I know people point to the splitting of Mockingjay as a cash grab and part of the reason why people tired of YA movies but I loved those last two movies so much.

It's another villain role for Mads. Gosh darn it Mads! American audiences are never going to stop seeing you as a villain if all your English language roles are bad guys. However, Wikipedia describes his character Mayor Prentiss as "the mastermind behind the takeover, and later becomes self-proclaimed President of New World. He is extremely charismatic and manipulative, often choosing to play mind games instead of resorting to brute force. He learns to control his Noise, and can even use it as a weapon. Despite his cruelties, a running theme throughout the trilogy is whether or not he can be redeemed". That sounds pretty complex and Mads is no stranger to manipulative and charismatic characters. It's totally in his wheelhouse and he always plays those roles with great aplomb.

A high percentage of Mads' characters die in their movies. Chaos Walking is based on a trilogy of books and apparently Mayor Prentiss is in all three of them. So if the movies do well enough least we can count on three movies with Mads playing a significant role. And watching Mads' pretty, pretty face on the big screen is always such a delight.

I have no idea how big the role is. All I keep thinking is Donald Sutherland's role in The Hunger Games for reference, but something tells me the role might be bigger. Filming starts before the end of the summer and will likely go on for about 3 months in Montreal. I know some people were starting to wonder about a conflict with any potential Hannibal season 4. If the gods smile down on us I think the best case scenario for season 4 will be that it won't get started until late summer or early fall in 2018. By then season 2 of Bryan Fuller's American Gods should be wrapped. I think Daisy Ridley's schedule on the final Star Wars movie will inform when the second Chaos Walking movie will go into production. I don't think it should conflict with the Fall of 2018. And even if there's a slight overlap with Mads' schedule, Hannibal films in Toronto which is obviously only a hop, skip and a jump away from Montreal. Now if we do get some location shooting in Buenos Aires or if they can swing Cuba, well then that's something both productions are going to have to negotiate schedule wise.

I'm happy Mads is working again. After the huge promotional obligations he had for Rogue One and Doctor Strange he deserved some major time off. I just don't want to read another trilogy of books. I remember coming across the premise of the series and it struck me as pretty ridiculous. However people whose opinions I trusted would rave about the books on Tumblr. Then Doug Liman got involved and Charlie Kaufman for the screenplay I started to wonder if there was something there. I seriously don't want another obsession but I desperately want to know more about Mads' character. The character sounds interesting but boy does that premise sound hokey.

Mads has a history of picking some really interesting projects. That's one thing I've really appreciated as I've delved into his back catalog. I also think he and Tom Holland are going to get along famously. They're both former dancers with gymnastics backgrounds and their energy levels are both off the charts. The promotional tour is going to be bursting with cuteness. I can feel it in my bones.