Star Wars’ Daisy Ridley Cast In Live-Action Peter Rabbit Movie

Daisy Ridley and Elizabeth Debicki have been cast in Sony Pictures’ live-action/animated hybrid adaptation of Peter Rabbit. Ridley and Debicki join X-Men: Days of Future Past‘s Rose Byrne and late night host James Corden as part of the cast.

Animal Logic, the visual effects studio behind The LEGO Movie, is creating the film for Sony. Will Gluck is directed from a screenplay written by Rob Lieber and revised by Gluck.

Corden is voicing Peter Rabbit, while Byrne is playing the live-action female lead character of Bea.

Peter Rabbit is a beloved children’s book character created by Beatrix Potter. Peter debuted in the 1902 book The Tale of Peter Rabbit, which led to five sequels published between 1904 and 1912. The books were published by Frederick Warne, and the publisher continues to control the Peter Rabbit and Beatrix Potter brands today.

“We at Penguin Random House UK are delighted to be working with Columbia Pictures,” said Tom Weldon, CEO of Penguin Random House UK in a statement to Variety. “As custodians of Beatrix Potter’s brand and legacy, we are excited about the opportunity this production will bring to engage a whole new audience with the world of Beatrix Potter and one of her best-loved characters, the mischievous Peter Rabbit.”

Sony has plans for a worldwide release of Peter Rabbit merchandise to coincide with the theatrical release of the film.

Ridley’s big break came as Rey in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, a role she will reprise for Star Wars: Episode VIII. She then loaned her voice to the English dub of Studio Ghibli’s Only Yesterday. She is attached to the YA film Chaos Walking at Lionsgate and Kolma, with Star Wars: The Force Awakens director J.J. Abrams, at Paramount. Ridley will also play the lead in Robbie Brenner’s The Lost Wife.

Debicki is best known for her role in the Emmy-winning AMC miniseries The Night Manager. She’ll next appear in the J.J. Abrams-produced God Particle for Paramount.

Peter Rabbit is set to begin production in Australia in January 2017. Sony is planning to release Peter Rabbit worldwide in April 2018.