Ariana DeBose, Rachel Brosnahan, & More Join Cast of Shakespeare Film LEAR REX

A plethora of new names have joined the upcoming film adaptation of Shakespeare's King Lear, including a number that will be familiar to Broadway audiences, such as Academy Award winner Ariana DeBose and Emmy winner Rachel Brosnahan. 

Deadline reports that DeBose will play Cordelia in the film, with Brosnahan tackling the role of Regan. Other new cast members include Academy Award nominee Lakeith Stanfield (Edmund), Emmy Award winner Peter Dinklage (The Fool), Chris Messina (Cornwall), Ted Levine (Kent), Danny Huston (Albany), Matthew Jacobs (Gloucester), Rhys Coiro (Oswald) and Stephen Dorff (Poor Tom).

Titled Lear Rex, they all join previously announced Al Pacino (King Lear) and Jessica Chastain (Goneril).

As in the original play, "the film follows an aging King who divides his land between his three daughters to prevent future conflict. But he rejects the young daughter who loves him and places his trust in her malevolent sisters, who strip him of his power and condemn him to a wretched wasteland of horror and insanity," says Deadline.

The film is written and directed by Bernard Rose, who said in a statement, “It is enormously exciting to get the opportunity to work with this extraordinary cast that Al, Barry and Sharon have put together to tackle this radical, but accessible adaptation of Shakespeare’s greatest play.”

Production is set to begin in Los Angeles this month.

King Lear, the Shakespeare tragedy about the aging King of Britain, has been staged countless times and has also been adapted for film and television. A recent significant screen adaptation premiered in 2018, featuring Anthony Hopkins and Emma Thompson and set in the 21st century. In 2007, Ian McKellen played the titular role in a Royal Shakespeare Company production that was also filmed for TV. A gender-swapped version of the play, starring Glenda Jackson, was produced on Broadway in 2019. Later this year, Kenneth Branagh will take the stage in a limited production at The Shed.

Photo Credit: Theo Wargo/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions and Bruce Glikas