Gal Gadot and Pedro Pascal Could Join 'Ben-Hur'

The cast is getting gathered up for Timur Bekmambetov's Ben-Hur, the MGM and Paramount production has already found their lead title character and their villain. Now the film is looking to add Batman v. Superman's Gal Gadot and Game of Thrones' Pedro Pascal to the mix. This rendition of Ben-Hur will be more of a retelling of the 1880 Lew Wallace novel and will stick closer to the book, instead of a being remake of the 1959 classic William Wyler film.

THR reported on Gal Gadot being in early negotiations to join the film, while Deadline revealed that Pedro Pascal was in talks to be added. If negotiations end well, Gadot will take the female lead role of Esther, a slave the title character falls in love with, while Pascal would land the role of Pontius Pilate, who has a more significant part in the book in comparison to the classic film. Being that Gadot and Pascal are cast, they would join previously added Jack Huston, as title character Judah Ben-Hur, Toby Kebbell, as villain Messala, and Morgan Feeman, as chariot race trainer Ildarin. The film is expected to begin production in Europe early next year, Ben-Hur opens in theaters on February 26th, 2016.