Antoine Fuqua’s Infinite has cast Chiwetel Ejiofor in the villain role. The action thriller is based on D. Eric Maikranz’s 2009 novel The Reincarnationist Papers. Ejiofor is set to star alongside Mark Wahlberg, Dylan O’Brien, and Sophie Cookson, who were just recently announced. Lorenzo di Bonaventura (Transformers) is on board as producer with Mark Vahradian and Bellevue Productions’ John Zaozirny. The project is set to begin production later this month in London, which is just right around the corner.
Infinite is about a group of near-immortal men and women who are reincarnated over the centuries and are known as “the Infinite.” Mark Wahlberg plays the troubled main character Evan Michaels, who suffers from schizophrenia and is a man haunted by memories of two of his past lives. Michaels later stumbles upon the centuries-old secret society of people similar to himself who make up the Cognomina. The Cognomina is a secret society of people who possess total recall of their past lives. Michaels wants to be accepted by the group and attempts to join.
Chiwetel Ejiofor will play a member of the Infinite who has “found a way to stop the reincarnation process and plans to use it on his own kind.” His character has been described as a villainous mastermind. The Infinite screenplay was written by Ian Shorr and originally had Avengers: Endgame star Chris Evans in the lead role. However, Mark Wahlberg was announced as his replacement in late June when it leaked that he was in talks with Paramount. It is unclear why Evans had to back out of the project, though many attribute it to scheduling conflicts.
Chiwetel Ejiofor was last heard in Disney’s Lion King remake, where he voiced the villainous Scar. He’ll be seen next in Maleficent: Mistress of Evil and just recently wrapped production on The Old Guard. Ejiofor is arguably best-known for his role as Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave, which earned him a Best Actor Academy Award nomination. He also starred as Vincent Kapoor in 2015’s The Martian, Karl Mordo in 2016’s Doctor Strange, and Dr Watson in 2018’s Sherlock Gnomes. Infinite has an intriguing story and should have a pretty big impact on the box office upon its arrival next summer.
Infinite is all set to hit theaters on August 7th, 2020. In addition to Mark Wahlberg, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Dylan O’Brien, and Sophie Cookson, the movie also stars Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson and Kae Alexander. More casting news will more than likely be revealed in the coming weeks since production is all set to begin in at the end of the month. There is now plenty of time to go back and read D. Eric Maikranz’s The Reincarnationist Papers to prepare for the big screen adaptation, which might be a wise decision to get some more information on the Cognomina. Chiwetel Ejiofor’s casting was originally announced by The Hollywood Reporter.
Writer for Movieweb since 2017. Enjoys playing Catan when not writing about superheroes and Star Wars.
