The gleefully violent, vulgar, and witty spy spoof Kingsman: The Secret Service, based on the comic series The Secret Service created by Mark Millar and Dave Gibbons, was destined to get a sequel after grossing $414 million at the global box office last year. Luckily for us fans of the film, writer-director Matthew Vaughn (Kick-Ass, X-Men: First Class), his writing partner Jane Goldman (Stardust, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children), and newcomer leading man Taron Egerton (Eddie the Eagle, Legend) will all be returning for the sequel, which is now going by the name Kingsman: The Golden Circle.

It now appears as if a Hollywood heavy-hitter is preparing to join the colorful, globe-trotting mayhem as 21 Jump Street and Magic Mike star Channing Tatum has signed on to play an unspecified role.

Tatum revealed the news on his Twitter:

Tatum was originally set to star in the Marvel X-flick Gambit for 20th Century Fox, the same studio bankrolling the Kingsman franchise, but the constant delays keeping that project from going before the cameras has opened up the actor’s schedule to accommodate several replacement gigs. Among them is a recently-announced 23 Jump Street and Men in Black crossover movie for Sony Pictures.

Tatum joins a supporting cast that so far already includes Oscar winners Halle Berry, as the director of the C.I.A., and Julianne Moore, as the villain. There’s even a rumor that (SPOILER FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE NOT YET SEEN THE ORIGINAL) Colin Firth’s dapper gentleman spy Harry Hart, who was shockingly killed off in Secret Service, could be resurrected somehow.

Music legend Elton John has also been rumored for a role in the Kingsman sequel.

Kingsman: The Golden Circle opens in theaters on June 16, 2017.

[Source: Deadline]