The Mandalorian's Giancarlo Esposito joins Francis Ford Coppola's sci-fi epic Megalopolis

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Giancarlo Esposito has joined the cast of Megalopolis, Francis Ford Coppola's new sci-fi epic starring the likes of Nathalie Emmanuel, Aubrey Plaza, and Adam Driver.

As it stands, The Mandalorian star's role in the movie is unknown. Whoever he's playing, he'll also be sharing the screen with Kathryn Hunter, Chloe Fineman, Laurence Fishburne, Jon Voight, Shia LaBeouf, Forest Whittaker, and Dustin Hoffman. DB Sweeney, Talia Shire, Jason Schwartzman, Bailey Ives, Grace Vanderwaal, and James Remar round out the star-studded cast.

While specific plot details are being kept under wraps, we know that Megalopolis will be set in an alternate reality version of New York City known as 'New Rome', and has been described as an "story of political ambition, genius and conflicted love". It is believed that Coppola fronted the film's initial $100 million budget himself, but that the project has since cost over $20 million more than that, which has lead to entire departments either being fired or resigning.

"What would make me really happy? It's not winning a lot of Oscars because I already have a lot and maybe more than I deserve," Coppola told Deadline in 2022. "And it's not that I make a lot of money, although I think over time it will make a lot of money because anything that the people keep looking at and finding new things, that makes money.

"So somewhere down the line, way after I'm gone, all I want is for them to discuss [Megalopolis] and, is the society we're living in the only one available to us? How can we make it better? Education, mental health? What the movie really is proposing is that utopia is not a place. It's how can we make everything better? Every year, come up with two, three or four ideas that make it better."

Megalopolis has yet to announce a release date, but we'll be sure to keep you posted. In the meantime, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies coming our way throughout 2023 and beyond.

I am an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering all things TV and film across our Total Film and SFX sections. Elsewhere, my words have been published by the likes of Digital Spy, SciFiNow, PinkNews, FANDOM, Radio Times, and Total Film magazine.