Ron Howard Rounds Out Inferno Cast With Felicity Jones, Sidse Babett Knudsen and More

By Christopher Campbell · Published on February 18th, 2015

Imagine Entertainment

Back when Felicity Jones was merely on the shortlist for the standalone Star Wars movie, many wondered if she would have time in her schedule since she was also linked to the next Dan Brown adaptation from Ron Howard. Then, when she was officially signed on to the secretive galactic spin-off, it seemed possible that maybe she would drop the less-exciting franchise. Nope. The current Oscar nominee is finding time for both. Howard confirmed her involvement in Inferno this afternoon while announcing additional cast members Omar Sy (X-Men: Days of Future Past), Sidse Babett Knudsen (The Duke of Burgundy) and Irrfan Khan (Jurassic World).

That’s quite an international ensemble joining star Tom Hanks, reprising his role of Robert Langdon from The Da Vinci Code and Angels & Demons. I’ll give this franchise one thing, and that’s its good fortune to foreign actors deserving of the paycheck. But other than that, I’ll confess that I’ve skipped out on reading and seeing these stories. There are just some parts of the zeitgeist that I don’t have room for. Still, I was happy for Audrey Tautou and Ayelet Zurer to be thrown some Hollywood cash, and now I’ll say the same thing for Knudsen. She too can go right back to better films afterward.

Knudsen’s role in the movie, as we’re shown in the promotional cards below, is Dr. Elizabeth Sinskey, director-general of the World Health Organization. WHO is involved because the plot entails an evil plan to wipe out most of Earth’s human population with a new plague, in order to combat overpopulation. Yep, same scheme as Samuel L. Jackson has in Kingsman: The Secret Service. Sy plays Christoph Bruder, who works with Sinskey for the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Khan plays the head of a shady-sounding organization called The Consortium and Jones is a doctor who helps Langdon escape an assassin after he wakes up with amnesia in a hospital.

Inferno is currently slated for released on October 14, 2016.

Imagine Entertainment

Christopher Campbell began writing film criticism and covering film festivals for a zine called Read, back when a zine could actually get you Sundance press credentials. He's now a Senior Editor at FSR and the founding editor of our sister site Nonfics. He also regularly contributes to Fandango and Rotten Tomatoes and is the President of the Critics Choice Association's Documentary Branch.