Each time we think Peter Berg has finished rounding up the thespian troops he needs to fill out the cast of true-life Navy SEAL tale Lone Survivor, another recruit pops up on the roster. Today’s soldier is Alexander Ludwig, who will portray Shane Patton.
Adapted by Berg from Marcus Luttrell’s book, Survivor follows Luttrell (Mark Wahlberg) and his fellow SEALs on patrol in Afghanistan in 2005. When the platoon is ambushed, they must begin a harrowing fight against the Taliban, a battle that leaves only one of them alive.
The cast already also includes Taylor Kitsch, Ben Foster, Emile Hirsch and Sammy Sheik. Berg will be kicking off the shoot on September 25 in New Mexico.
Ludwig is most familiar for The Seeker: The Dark Is Rising and Race To Witch Mountain, and had spent a quiet couple of years largely acting in TV shows until he popped back up again to play Cato in The Hunger Games. He’s also just finished working on Grown Ups 2, so SEAL training will probably be a welcome change.