Say what you will about Stephanie Meyer or her Twilight series, but the woman has a following.

And now, for the adaptation of her latest work, The Host, William Hurt has joined the upcoming Andrew Niccol-directed film, which will find him alongside Saoirse Ronan. Ronan stars as Melanie Stryder, with Hurt playing “Jeb, eccentric uncle” to Stryder, “whose brain is hijacked by the soul of an alien being known as Wanderer. Jeb is one of the grizzled leaders of the human survivalists fighting the alien invasion.”