As a star of Doctor Who and Guardians of the Galaxy, Karen Gillan has played characters who are part of some fascinating worlds. Any of them involve living board games, though? If not then this will be a first for Gillan who has joined the upcoming Jumanji "continuation" alongside Dwayne Johnson, Kevin Hart, Jack Black, and Nick Jonas.
It was Johnson who first broke the news on his Instagram page, with Sony Pictures confirming it later on. She'll be taking the key role of Martha, and judging by the way Johnson talks about it and Gillan it must be pretty significant...
“Between myself, Kevin Hart, Jack Black and Nick Jonas we’ve searched far and wide to find the one person to complete our JUMANJI family. This isn’t just any role, but in many ways the most important role of the movie. We had to find a girl. But not just any girl. A girl who has ‘Chutzpah.’ Guts and talent to stand her ground and hold her own against Nick’s cool rockstar ways, Jack’s relentless energy and genius, Kevin’s masterful timing and skills and the big, brown, bald tattooed guy who just simply stands there and oooooozes smoldering, captivating, sizzling, can’t take your eyes off this brilliant manly man.. never mind I got drunk on the ol’ DJ kool aid again.
“Ladies and gentlemen, I’m proud to announce a girl who’s playing the most important role in our movie – the talented, beautiful and down for a Scottish fight at any time, Ms. Karen Gillan.
“And yes, this is the girl who is so bad ass she shaved her freaking head for Guardians of the Galaxy…We start production next month in Hawaii and as many of you already know, this isn’t a remake or reboot, but a continuation of the awesome JUMANJI story we love.”
The story is based on Chris Van Allsburg's novel about a board game and its jungle inhabitants that spring to life and take over a neighborhood. While Johnson calls it a continuation, does that mean it's a true sequel? Are we talking about the same characters from the original or all new ones? It's worth noting Gillan's character is named Martha, which was the name of the mom in the 1995 movie. Filming begins next month for release on July 28th 017.
