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.

The Lone Ranger #2
Written by Ande Parks
Art by Esteve Polls
Colors by Marcelo Pinto
Letters by Simon Bowland
Cover by Francesco Francavilla
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: February 1, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

In today’s comic book market, western comics are a hard sell. If you ask me, if more western comics were like The Lone Ranger #2, they wouldn’t be. In a time when every hero is almost a villain, and every villain is just a misunderstood victim, this book gives us a breath of fresh air — good guys vs. bad guys.

Writer Ande Parks really delivers in this issue. While this is the second chapter in the first arc of the series, it is, just like the first issue, basically a one and done, which is great. I can’t remember the last time I read a comic book that wasn’t to be continued in the next issue or worse, continued in 8 other comics. There’s something very satisfying about sitting down with a comic that has a beginning, a middle, and an end.

The Lone Ranger #1
Written by Ande Parks
Art by Esteve Polls
Colors by Marvelo Pinto
Letters by Simon Bowland
Covers by Alex Ross, Francesco Francavilla
Dynamite Entertainment
Release Date: January 4, 2012
Cover Price: $3.99

Dynamite Entertainment brings back the reason we all played Cowboys and Indians when we were kids. I’m happy to report The Lone Ranger #1 is an instant classic! And now inker Ande Parks has become known as WRITER Ande Parks.

Writer Ande Parks totally amazed me with this issue. Yes, I’ve been a fan of his run on The Green Hornet and Kato titles, but I feel here that he’s hit his stride. He writes The Lone Ranger like it’s a creator-owned property and not like a licensed property, and therein lies the difference. Parks would do well teaching this skill to some other writers out there.

You just can’t keep a good franchise starter down.

With the film seemingly on the outs just a matter of months ago, Disney appears hellbent on getting their take on The Lone Ranger into theaters, and now, they have yet another cast member.

Deadline is reporting that James Badge Dale has joined the cast, which at this point includes Armie Hammer, Tom Wilkinson, Ruth Wilson, Dwight Yoakam, Helena Bonham Carter, and Johnny Depp, with Gore Verbinski aboard as director.

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.