EXCLUSIVE: Rob Riggle, a glove fit with Fox’s NFL Sunday pregame crew that will be on full display in Sunday’s Super Bowl, has been set to join the cast of the film Horse Soldiers in a role he couldn’t be better suited for. In fact, if he doesn’t crush this mission, they should court martial his ass. Riggle will play Max Bowers, an Army Colonel who is part of 12 special forces immediately sent to Afghanistan following the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Before he went into showbiz, Riggle actually served under Col. Bowers during that time in Afghanistan from 2001-2002, when Bowers was the commanding officer of the 3rd Battalion, 5th Special Forces Group.

Riggle joins Chris Hemsworth, Oscar-nominated Nocturnal Animals star Michael Shannon, Moonlight‘s Trevonte Rhodes, Michael Pena, and Austin Stowell in the Nicolai Fuglsig-directed production from Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Black Label Media and Alcon Entertainment production. Warner Bros is distributing the film domestically, and Lionsgate International has overseas rights.

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Riggle joined the Marine Corps at the age of 19 in 1990, serving in Liberia, Albania, Kosovo and Afghanistan. He retired recently, with a Lieutenant Colonel rank from the Marine Corps Reserve, after nine years of active duty and 14 years in the reserves. He earned over 22 medals and citations while serving his country.

Riggle transitioned easily to comic roles in film and TV roles that included Dumb And Dumber To, Let’s Be Cops, 21 Jump Street & 22 Jump Street, The Other Guys, Step Brothers and The Hangover, to name a few. He has been transitioning into drama, playing a role in Judy Greer’s directorial debut A Happening of Monumental Proportions with Katie Holmes, Allison Janney and Common, and opposite Bella Thorne and Patrick Schwarzenegger in Open Road’s Midnight Sun. He also co-stars with Kristen Bell, Salma Hayek and Rob Lowe in How To Be A Latin Lover.

Riggle is repped by WME, Principato-Young and attorney Warren Dern.