Snake Eyes Casts The Raid Star Iko Uwais as Hard Master

Snake Eyes has found another star to join its ever-expanding cast. According to new reports from THR, The Raid lead Iko Uwais is boarding the G.I. Joe spin-off from Paramount; he’s set to Hard Master, the martial arts master serving as Snake Eyes‘ mentor. The character appeared in G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra (2009) as played by Gerald Okamura.

Uwais, a native of Jakarta, Indonesia, has been gaining steam in Hollywood of late after his two starring roles in the action-packed Raid films. Most recently, the actor had the lead role in Netflix’s Wu Assassins, a martial arts series he produced with John Wirth and Tony Krantz. Before that, the actor appeared alongside MCU stars Dave Bautista and Kumail Nanjiani in Stuber.

Uwais is the third major character to be cast in the film, behind Crazy Rich Asians star Henry Golding — playing the titular ninja assassin — and Andrew Koji, who’s playing Storm Shadow — the life-long archenemy of Snake Eyes. Koji most recently appeared in Cinemax’s critically-acclaimed Warrior series, of which is currently filming its second season.

When we spoke with Koji earlier this year shortly after the first season of Warrior debuted, Koji admitted before he was cast in the series, he very nearly gave up acting after falling short in many other auditions.

“It wasn’t a career change, it was giving up,” the actor told ComicBook.com. “I don’t know what I’m going to do because I really didn’t know what I could do outside of film and acting and all that stuff. I got the audition on the way back from driving to my mum’s. I was like “Okay, I’m going to turn 30 soon enough, I gotta really reconsider a lot of things in my life.”

Snake Eyes features a script from Beauty and the Beast writer Evan Spiliotopoulos and will be directed by Robert Schwentke, the helmer of the last two Divergent films. Snake Eyes is set to bow October 16, 2020.

What other G.I. Joe characters are you hoping to see in the upcoming spin-off? Share your thoughts in the comments below!