When it was first announced that G.I. Joe 2 would only be bringing back Channing Tatum, Ray Park and Byung-hun Lee, it was a pretty big surprise. After all, the first film had a lot of big names, including Dennis Quaid, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Christopher Eccleston, Marlon Waynes, Sienna Miller, Rachel Nichols, that apparently were just going to be written out. Over the past few months, however, that level of surprise has been dulled thanks to some huge additions, such as Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson, Adrianne Palicki, Ray Stevenson, Joseph Mazzello, Eloide Yung, and, possibly, Bruce Willis. Now it appears another top notch actor has signed up.
Variety has learned that Walton Goggins, best known for his roles on the FX series The Shield and Justified, has been added to the lineup of G.I. Joe 2: Retaliation. While the trade doesn't include any details about the role, Goggins will be playing an original character named Warden Nigel James (it's even hard to tell if Warden is his first name or his job description). The sequel is being directed by Justin Bieber: Never Say Never-helmer Jon M. Chu, based on a screenplay by Zombieland scribes Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese.
I was amazed to learn in mid-July that this is actually the first year that Walton Goggins has been nominated for an Emmy Award, and it's criminal that it has taken him so long to get recognized. The man is easily one of the best character actors working today and his work on both aforementioned television series proves that. Let's just hope this role is bigger than the bit part he played in Cowboys & Aliens.
