The Dwayne Johnson-starrer Hercules already set Rufus Sewell to co-star as Autolycus. Now Ian McShane, Joseph Fiennes, Rebecca Ferguson (BBC’s The White Queen), Aksel Hennie (Headhunters) and John Hurt have come aboard, Paramount and MGM said today. Ryan Condal wrote the screenplay for the action film, based on Radical Studio’s graphic novel Hercules: The Thracian Wars, Evan Spiliotopoulos rewrote it and Brett Ratner is directing and producing with Barry Levine and Beau Flynn. Production is set to begin in May and the movie will be released July 25, 2014.

The plot: After renouncing his mythological origins, Hercules lives in exile and fights as a mercenary for hire alongside his loyal but weary comrades. Hercules and his crew will face their most challenging labor yet when one battle forces the man behind the myth to question everything he once believed, and reconsider the truth behind his own legend.

McShane is represented by ICM, Gallant Management, Independent and Nelson, Davis, Wetzstein; Sewell by WME, Parseghian Planco and Julian Belfrage Associates; Fiennes by WME, Anonymous and Roger Charteris; Ferguson by Tavistock Wood, London and Actors in Scandinavia; Hennie by WME and Untitled Entertainment; and Hurt by Independent Talent, 42 and John Crosby Management.