Get ready to see Lea Michele do some wire fighting, as kung fu meets Broadway in the sequel to the top-grossing foreign language film of all… okay, just kidding. It’s actually Harry Shum Jr., who plays football player-turned-dancer Mike Chang on Glee, who will be joining the follow-up to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon that Harvey Weinstein started putting together last year.
Shum joins a cast that includes Donnie Yen, a Hong Kong martial arts/action star who’s been seen by American audiences in Shanghai Knights, Blade 2, and Chinese crossover hit Hero; and Michelle Yeoh, who will return to the role of Yu Shu Lien. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon II: The Green Destiny will be based on Silver Vase, Iron Knight, the final book in Wang Du Lu’s Crane Iron Pentalogy, a series that also includes Crouching Tiger’s source material. While Ang Lee won’t be returning to the director’s chair, he should have a more than capable replacement in Yuen Woo-Ping, the legendary fight coordinator who created the original film’s much-imitated choreography.
The new film will be set 20 years after the original, as Yu and three other heroes—Silent Wolf (Yen), Tie-Fang (Shum), and an as-yet-uncast Snow Vase—most prevent the sword at the center of the first film, Green Destiny, from again falling into the wrong hands.