EXCLUSIVE: Rising UK actor Charles Babalola (Mary Magdalene) has been cast as The Hunter in Orion Pictures’ upcoming horror pic Gretel And Hansel, the reimagining of the Brothers Grimm fairy tale which will star It breakout Sophia Lillis as Gretel.

Osgood Perkins (The Blackcoat’s Daughter) will direct the feature from a screenplay he wrote with Rob Hayes (Netflix’s Chewing Gum). Brian Kavanaugh-Jones (Sinister) and Fred Berger (La La Land) will produce. Sandra Yee Ling will executive produce. Dan Kagan is overseeing on behalf of Orion Pictures.

Shoot is due to get underway this fall in Ireland on the film which will be set a long time ago in a distant fairytale countryside, and follow a young girl who leads her little brother into a dark wood in desperate search of food and work, only to stumble upon a nexus of terrifying evil. Additional casting is in the works.

Babalola was most recently seen in the stage production of Network at the National Theatre in London opposite Bryan Cranston. His previous credits include Netflix’s Black Mirror, ITV’s Broadchurch, Sky1’s Stan Lee’s Lucky Man and BBC Three’s Thirteen. He is represented by Denton Brierley and Alchemy Entertainment.