Chiwetel Ejiofor joins The Old Guard

Chiwetel Ejiofor has joined the cast of 'The Old Guard'.

The '12 Years a Slave' actor is the latest actor to join the film adaptation of a five-issue comic book series of the same name about immortal warriors, which also stars Charlize Theron, KiKi Layne and Marwan Kenzari.

According to the Daily Mail newspaper columnist Baz Bamigboye, Chiwetel will play Copley, an ex-CIA operative who hires the fighters for a rescue mission but is not immortal himself.

Harry Melling has also joined the movie and will play sociopathic businessman Steve Merrick, while Veronica Ngo will portray a character named Quynh.

Charlize leads the cast as 5,000-year-old Andronika the Scythian, who is known as Andy, the leader of the warriors, an Amazon from the Herodotus age of ancient Greece and has no idea why she's still alive.

Starring alongside her as another immortal warrior will be 'If Beale Street Could Talk' actress KiKi, who will portray newest recruit Nile, a US Marine. A third role will be that of a French Renaissance thief, but their casting has not been revealed yet.

Marwan will play Joe, a part of the "long-lived squad" who was once a "moor warrior".

'The Old Guard' comics were produced by writer Greg Rucka and illustrator Leandro Fernandez and the authors have described their work as a "fairytale of blood and bullets".

'The Secret Life of Bees' filmmaker Gina Prince-Bythewood is directing the movie, which will be filmed in the UK and Morocco.

Work is currently underway at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire, which is also home to James Bond 25.