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Joel Edgerton Is in Talks to Star in the 300 Sequel

Photo: Lisa Maree Williams/2011 Getty Images
SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - OCTOBER 16:  Joel Edgerton attends the Australian premiere of "Warrior" on October 16, 2011 in Sydney, Australia.  (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)
Joel Edgerton. Photo: Lisa Maree Williams/2011 Getty Images

The future of Greece may be in doubt these days, but its past is looking pretty good to Warner Bros. Insiders tell Vulture that the studio is entering into talks with Aussie Joel Edgerton (Warrior, Animal Kingdom) to star in 300: Battle of Artemisia, the sequel to the studio’s super-stylized 2006 hit. (Noam Murro, who last made the very anti-action flick Smart People, is set to direct; original 300 director Zack Snyder is co-writing the script based on Frank Miller’s upcoming graphic-novel sequel.)

If a deal is reached, Edgerton — most recently seen in the prequel to John Carpenter’s The Thing, and currently engaging in old-tyme fisticuffs with Tobey Maguire in Baz Luhrmann’s Great Gatsby — would play Themosticles, the famed archon and general who led the Greeks to victory against the invading Persians in 480 BCE. So, if you’re keeping score at home: Battle of Artemesia will likely star an Australian as the Greek general who brought about the defeat of the Persian navy, all under the direction of an Israeli Jew working for an American producer. World peace can’t be too far off, can it?

Joel Edgerton Is in Talks to Star in the 300 Sequel