Kidsmomo

With all the hype around the Hunger Games movies, it was surely just a matter of time before Hollywood would make a film of Suzanne Collins’ other book series, The Underland Chronicles (aka the Gregor books).

Well, the big announcement has finally come: no word on the release date yet, but an adaptation of the first book in the series, Gregor the Overlander, will definitely be hitting theaters at some point in the future!

But they’d better hurry up and shoot the movie fast because Josh Hutcherson and Jennifer Lawrence have been cast as the leads, Gregor and Luxa!

It certainly seems like a strange choice because the characters are 11 years old, whereas the actors are both in their 20s. But the movie studio that’s doing the adaptation addressed their casting decision in this way:

“Whenever you cast iconic book characters, there will be some backlash from the fans. It seemed a natural fit to ask Josh and Jennifer to take on the roles of Gregor and Luxa because they’re already a known quantity to Suzanne Collins’ readers. Not only that, they’re two of Hollywood’s brightest young stars who have already proven their acting chops and their appeal in the Hunger Games movies.”

Makes sense, we suppose… And we can only imagine that same logic applied to the rest of the casting, plus a few surprises:

• Woody Harrelson as Ripred
• Elizabeth Banks as Solovet
• Donald Sutherland as Vikus
• Willow Shields as Lizzie
• Sam Claflin as Henry
• Liam Hemsworth as Boots

It is quite puzzling that Liam Hemsworth was cast as Gregor’s 2-year-old sister, Boots… but we’re so excited about the film we’re willing to just go with it.

In addition, how the Underland’s fantastical creatures will be represented will be a fresh new take, a source close to the Art Director stated:

“Well, elaborate state-of-the-art computer generated creatures has already been done in movies like The Hobbit, and while hand puppets were considered, I know for a fact that they started rehearsals on interpretive dance. So, none of the fliers will actually fly, but you’ll really see them fly through the magic of imagination!”

What about you? Do you agree with the casting? Leave a comment and let us know who you would cast if you had the choice. Also, leave a comment and tell us whether you believed a single word that we said because guess what —

April Fools!

(In other words, this is all fake! Did we getcha?)

😀

— Karen and Nancy

P.S. — We do really want to see movies of this series some day. So if you’re like us, well, sorry if we got your hopes up!