'Invasion': Riz Ahmed And Octavia Spencer To Star In Sci-Fi Thriller

Riz Ahmed (Rogue One: A Star Wars Story) is about to get back in science fiction mode.

Emmy winner Ahmed and Oscar winner Octavia Spencer (Hidden Figures) have joined the cast of Invasion, a new sci-fi thriller that's been acquired by Amazon Studios. Get the details about the upcoming project below. 

According to Deadline, Ahmed and Spencer have officially joined the Invasion cast for up-and-coming UK director Michael Pearce, who won a BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut by a British Writer, Director, or Producer for his 2017 feature debut, Beast.

Pearce and Joe Barton (The Ritual) wrote the screenplay, which "follows two young brothers who go on the run with their father, a decorated Marine (Ahmed), who is trying to protect them from an inhuman threat. As the journey takes them in increasingly dangerous and unexpected directions, the boys will need to confront hard truths and leave their childhood behind."

There's no word yet on which role Spencer will play, but the Oscar winner is on a hot streak after picking up an Emmy nomination for her work on the Netflix series Self-Made: Inspired By The Life Of Madam CJ Walker. Since breaking out with The Help, Spencer has appeared in sci-fi projects like the Divergent sequels Insurgent and Allegiant and Bong Joon-ho's movie adaptation of Snowpiercer. As for Ahmed's history with sci-fi, his trip to a galaxy far, far away took place around the same time as his work on the Netflix series The OA.

The hope is to get Invasion into production in the United States sometime this year.

I've never heard of the BAFTA-winning Beast, but that film stars the great Jessie Buckley (Wild Rose, Chernobyl) and looks like a moody, propulsive thriller on a relatively small scale. Check out the trailer:

Pearce has also directed a number of short films, and although most of them aren't online, I was able to find one: a touching romance called Gallop he made in 2012, which focuses on a man getting a multiple sclerosis diagnosis and grappling with how to move forward with his relationship in the wake of such life-altering news. Check that one out below.