By David Wharton | 9 years ago

We told you two weeks ago that Hugo star Asa Butterfield had been offered the lead role in the bigscreen adaptation of Orson Scott Card’s classic SF novel Ender’s Game. It’s official: Variety is reporting that the deal is done and Butterfield will indeed be playing the young military prodigy Ender Wiggin.

Now the casting rumors turn toward another of the story’s biggest characters: Colonel Hyrum Graff, who is in charge of training Ender and the other young prospects at the International Fleet’s academy to be officers in the war against the insect-like “Buggers.” So who do the filmmakers have their eye on for the role? None other than Harrison Ford.

Viggo Mortensen was previously the front-runner for the role, but that didn’t come together. I could definitely see Mortensen as Graff, but Ford is even better. The prospect of seeing Ford in a proper science fiction flick again is exciting. Sure, sure, he was in Cowboys & Aliens, but I want to see the man back in space, damn it! Even better if he can return to the stars in a dream project like Ender’s Game, which has been in the works it seems nearly since the book came out back in 1985. Besides, the presence of an old vet like Ford might alleviate — somewhat — my reservations about director Gavin Hood (X-Men Origins: Wolverine).

I somehow missed out on Ender’s Game up until a year or so ago, when I borrowed a copy from my father-in-law. It was just as good as I’d always been lead to believe, and if they can get a solid script and all the right talent in place, Ender’s Game could become an instant classic on the screen just as it has been on the page. Come on, guys, a lot of people have been waiting a long time for this one; don’t screw it up.