Djimon Hounsou is up for the “Merlin-esque” role in Guy Ritchie’s King Arthur movie

By Sam Barsanti | November 21, 2014 | 12:45am

Aux Features Film

Guy Ritchie is a cool British guy who directs cool British movies, so it’s no wonder that Warner Bros. has put him in charge of its new series of movies based on the most British thing of all time that’s not named Benedict Cumberbatch: the legend of King Arthur. With Charlie Hunnam and possibly Jude Law on board, Ritchie’s Arthur movie—dubbed Knights Of The Round Table: King Arthur, because brevity is for the French—is shaping up to be a sort of British Avengers, which is why Ritchie has apparently been trying to get one of the actual Avengers for the film’s “Merlin-esque” role. Well, someone tangentially related to the actual Avengers, at least. First, he set his sights on Idris Elba—who plays Heimdall in the Thor movies—but that fell through due to scheduling issues. Maybe Elba got tied up with the million other things he’s been doing lately.

Now, Ritchie has moved on to someone whose relation to the actual Avengers is even more tangential: Djimon Hounsou, who played Korath in Guardians Of The Galaxy. OK, both he and Elba have done a bunch of other things, but we already made that Avengers reference, so now we’re sticking with this. Anyway, Variety says Hounsou is only “in talks” for the role, so it’s not official yet. Also, we still don’t know why the character is described as “Merlin-esque” instead of just “Merlin,” but maybe Warner Bros. thinks audiences will have a hard time accepting characters that live in England and are magic. That sort of thing has never really worked out for it in the past.