According to Deadline, Courtney B. Vance has joined the cast of Universal’s big reboot of the Mummy franchise, which is set to star Tom Cruise as some kind of handsome, likable human who is not deeply involved in a weird, controversial religious group. The Deadline story doesn’t have any details about Vance’s character, but considering he recently played Johnnie Cochran in FX’s surprisingly good American Crime Story: The People Vs. OJ Simpson, maybe he’ll take a page from that and be someone who is tasked with convincing people that this movie’s undead villain didn’t actually do anything wrong. There could even be an intense courtroom scene where Vance says something snappy like “if the linen wrappings don’t fit, you must acquit,” which is a joke so bad that we already regret making it.
In addition to Cruise, Vance will be joining Kingsman’s Sofia Boutella and New Girl’s Jake Johnson in The Mummy. After being delayed in January, it’ll now be in theaters on June 9, 2017.