Stupid humans. Why can’t they just let those poor, innocent damn, dirty apes live in peace? Well, probably because that wouldn’t be much of a movie. Woody Harrelson has joined the human army for the third installment of the rebooted Apes films, entitled War of the Planet of the Apes. In fact, he’s going to be the main human villain, joining the ranks of David Oyelowo in Rise and Gary Oldman in Dawn. The Hollywood Reporter doesn’t have much more information on Harrelson’s character aside from the fact that he’s going to be called “The Colonel,” meaning he’ll either be a badass or he’ll make extra crispy chicken.

As of now, Harrelson is the third cast member revealed for the film, which is being directed and co-written by Dawn‘s director, Matt Reeves. Obviously, we know Andy Serkis is going to be in it; his CG performance-capture portrayal of Caesar has been the focal point of the franchise and the movies probably wouldn’t work without him. We also know that Gabriel Chavarria of Hulu’s East Los High has been cast one of the movie’s two human leads. That’s about it. No word yet on if the other ape actors from the previous film will be there, but it seems pretty unlikely any of the human actors will carry over.

As you’d expect, War of the Planet of the Apes, which I’m very excited to call WOTPOTA, will be about the war brewing between apekind and mankind, with both Reeves and Serkis at different points saying this story will cement Caesar’s legacy as an almost biblical figure in the history of apes. And, after all, the apes have to win, because it’s a planet of them. Harrelson has probably got a thing or two to say about that in the interim, though.

Are you excited to see Woody Harrelson punch a chimpanzee in the face? Let us know your thoughts on the casting in the comments below!

—

HT: Slashfilm

Image Credit: KERRY HAYES RELATIVITY MEDIA

Kyle Anderson is the Weekend Editor and a film and TV critic for Nerdist.com. Follow him on Twitter!