Singer and actor Dwight Yoakam was originally set to play the villain in Walt Disney’s upcoming western epic, The Lone Ranger.

Now Yoakam has had to step away from the project due to a scheduling conflict, and a replacement has already been found. William Fichtner, star of such titles as Armageddon, The Perfect Storm, Black Hawk Down, and Prison Break, has joined the movie and will now be the villain.

Now that the epic Walt Disney action adventure take on The Lone Ranger has survived that health scare and continued forward, casting has resumed.

The first to officially join Johnny Depp‘s Tonto, Arnie Hammer‘s Lone Ranger, and Helena Bonham Carter was female lead Ruth Wilson and the great Tom Wilkinson (both of which were said to be up for roles prior to the movie’s complications, but were only just confirmed recently), who’s set to play the film’s villain.

And now some smaller characters are being given faces with the report that James Frain, best known for his role as Thomas Cromwell on the hit Showtime series The Tudors, has now joined The Lone Ranger.

According to Twitch, Kristen Stewart, star of The Twilight Saga and the upcoming Snow White and the Huntsman, has been offered the female lead in Warner Brothers’ upcoming live-action remake of hit Japanese manga and animated feature, Akira.

In most cases this would be chalked up as nothing more than a rumor, but, unfortunately for those who will weep at such news, Twitch has been the go-to source for breaking Akira news, including first reporting the news that Garrett Hedlund has been offered the lead role of Kaneda and that Gary Oldman and Helena Bonham Carter had also been offered roles.

Despite being one of the more maligned remakes currently in production, you have to admit, the cast for the long-discussed remake of the beloved anime flick Akira maybe just got a whole lot interesting.

Twitch is reporting that the pair of Gary Oldman and Helena Bonham-Carter have been offered the roles of Colonel and Lady Miyako, respectively.  The film will be helmed by Jaume Collet-Sera, and is currently being set up with Garret Hedlund in the film’s lead role (or at least, as of the writing of this, he’s in discussion for the role of Kaneda), so it does appear as though this is definitely on its way.

Some images of Johnny Depp on the set of Tim Burton‘s adaptation of the ’60s Gothic soap opera, Dark Shadows, have shown up online.

In the show Depp plays the vampire Barnabas Collins, and, as you probably expected considering this is another Burton/Depp collaboration, the actor looks pretty wild and outrageous.

You can read a synopsis for the movie and check out more images of Depp as Barnabas by heading below now.