Luc Besson to direct sci-fi comic adaptation Valerian

Hot on the heels of last year’s sci-fi actioner Lucy, director Luc Besson is diving back into the genre for his next project Valerian and The City of a Thousand Planets. Based on the French graphic novel series Valerian and Laureline, written by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mezieres, the story follows a pair of time-and-space traveling agents who work together to protect Earth in the 28th century from a host of villains.

Besson took to Twitter to announce the movie and reveal its two headlining stars Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne, who are poised to play the main duo. The veteran filmmaker is also slated to both write and direct the film that has been dubbed a ‘space opera.’

Virginie Besson Silla will produce for EuropaCorp, which will finance, produce and distribute the movie. Production is scheduled to get underway this December with a release date currently eyed for 2017.

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Gem Seddon

Gem Seddon is GamesRadar+'s west coast Entertainment News Reporter, working to keep all of you updated on all of the latest and greatest movies and shows on streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime. Outside of entertainment journalism, Gem can frequently be found writing about the alternative health and wellness industry, and obsessing over all things Aliens and Terminator on Twitter.