Back in June, it was reported that X-Men Origins: Wolverine stars Taylor Kitsch and Lynn Collins were the first announced cast in Andrew Stanton‘s live-action John Carter of Mars project. Now the project has it’s first big name star with the signing of Willem Dafoe.

Dafoe will be playing the role of Tars Tarkas, a Martian with a heart of gold who has the ability to love, which is very much not a virtue of his particular species of vicious warriors. He joins up with John Carter (Kitsch) in the first story, The Princess of Mars — which this first movie is based on. Collins will be playing said Princess of Mars.

John Carter of Mars follows a Civil War veteran who is mysteriously transported to Mars — a planet that’s dying — and right into the middle of two civilizations that are at war with each other. The character was created by Edgar Rice Burroughs almost one hundred years ago.

It began with a Tweet.

Coming Soon noticed a little message on Twitter recently from actress Lynn Collins which simply read “celebrating john carter of mars!!!!!!!” and nothing more. Naturally this would lead you to believe that she had landed a role in the movie version of John Carter of Mars which is being directed by Pixar man Andrew Stanton, but it’s also something to be skeptical about.

Proving that not everything we hear/see on the Internet is a lie, it’s now being officially confirmed that Lynn Collins has indeed been cast in John Carter of Mars, as well as her X-Men Origins: Wolverine co-star Taylor Kitsch. Kitsch, who is now best known for his work as Gambit in Wolverine, will be playing the man himself, John Carter. Collins — who played Silver Fox in Wolverine and also appeared in the first season of True Blood — will be playing Dejah Thoris, who is the heir to the throne of Mars’ Helium Kingdom.