Sam Worthington Returns to Sci-Fi in 'The Titan'

Hey, remember Sam Worthington? Both he and actress Ruth Wilson, who you should know from The Affair or Luther, are set to star in the upcoming movie titled The Titan, a sci-fi epic that will be the feature film debut from German director Lennart Ruff.

The project was written by Hell on Wheels scribe Max Hurwitz and is based on an original idea by co-producer Arash Amel, who is best known for going on an epic Twitter rant earlier this year about the failed biopic, Grace of Monaco, which he wrote. The plot will orbit a military family relocated to the far reaches of space to participate in genetic evolution experiments. It sounds like the heady science-based stuff that Christopher Nolan would love, and hey, did we mention Sam Worthington is in it?

After basically being labelled the “Greatest Actor of Our Time”, Worthington has pin-balled around lackluster blockbusters, including two unwatchable Clash of the Titans movies, and popped up in smaller indies with appearances in The Keeping Room and Jennifer Aniston’s excellent Oscar-bait Cake. Our guess is that you can do just about whatever you damn well please after playing the lead in the highest grossing movie of all time.

But Worthington doesn’t seem too bothered by his time out of the spotlight because he never really seemed to pine after it in the first place. The dude is on basically the third act of his career and churning movies out as best he can. He’ll next be seen in the schmaltzy faith-based drama The Shack and then the mountain climbing thriller Everest before boarding the crazy train on WWII drama Hacksaw Ridge, which will be directed by Mel Gibson. The Titan is great prep for him to get back in the sci-fi mode. Following that he’ll become a giant blue cat person again in James Cameron’s Avatar sequels.

The Titan doesn’t seem like something to sleep on either because of his co-star is awesome, a reigning Golden Globe champ who recently nabbed a Tony Award for her role in Constellations and a BAFTA nom for the BBC miniseries Jane Eyre. Add two Olivier Awards for her performances in A Streetcar Named Desire and Anna Christie and you’ve got a totally decadent mantelpiece.

Filming on The Titan will begin in January, but a release date hasn’t been announced yet.