Valérian and Laureline is certain to stand out among its many fellow comic books to earn big screen adaptation these days. The French series, which began its run in 1967, followed the missions of a fairly classic adventuring duo—the titular spaciotemporal agents—across planets, galaxies, and dimensions. Although you might liken the vast, imaginative exploits of Valérian and Laureline to American fiction’s many intergalactic adventurers, there was always something a little bit stranger and more cerebral—you know, Frencher—about their outings. This gives director Luc Besson plenty of room to go wild in the upcoming film adaptation, Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets.
We catch sight of the expansive imagination inherent to the Valerian story in these first photos from the movie, which debuted over at Entertainment Weekly. Front and center are stars Dane DeHaan—upgraded to “hero” status after playing the heavy in his last comic book film, The Amazing Spider-Man 2—as Valérian, and Cara Delevingne as Laureline. Delevingne will likewise showcase her penchant for villainy in Suicide Squad, in which she plays the DC Comics sorceress Enchantress.
Though otherwise prone to cinematic criminal activity, DeHaan and Delevingne are going pure spacetime heroes in Besson’s picture, and ones charged with protecting the expanses of the unexplored universe to boot.
As much as these images do show us, they really only serve to raise questions. Slight glimpses at pieces of otherworldly technology and backdrops have us wondering where Besson will go with his newest story. The biggest question of the lot, though, has got to be: Who’s behind that big, black, metallic mask? We know that the character in question is an officer named K-Tron, but since most of the supporting players on board are thus far assigned to unknown roles, we haven’t a clue of who’ll be laying down the law in his shoes. Could it be John Goodman? Ethan Hawke? Rihanna? Not jokes—actual possibilities, people.
If you’re intrigued by the photos but need to bone up on your Valérian and Laureline, check back to EW to read their extensive interview with Besson about the project. The film hits theaters July 2017. Check out the pics in our gallery, and let us know if you’ll be adding it to your schedule!
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Images:Â Vikram Gounassegarin, Daniel Smith
