Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon casts Jesse Plemons as its lead

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Leonardo DiCaprio was originally due to take on the role, but will now appear in a smaller role

Jesse Plemons in The Post
(Image credit: Universal Pictures)

Martin Scorsese's Killers of the Flower Moon has found its male lead in Jesse Plemons. Plemons will join Robert De Niro, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Lily Gladstone in the upcoming crime drama.

Based on the best-selling book of the same name, the movie is set in '20s Oklahoma and follows the serial murder of members of the oil-wealthy Osage Nation, a string of brutal crimes that came to be known as the Reign of Terror. 

Gladstone will play Mollie Burkhart, an Osage married to Ernest Burkhart (DiCaprio), who is the nephew of a powerful local rancher (De Niro). Plemons will play Tom White, the lead FBI agent investigating the murders – a character that was originally going to be played by DiCaprio, before he stepped back into his current, smaller role. 

Since his breakthrough role in cult drama Friday Night Lights, Plemons has starred in TV shows like Breaking Bad, Fargo, and Black Mirror. After years of supporting roles in movies, he's recently come to the forefront in Charlie Kaufman's I'm Thinking of Ending Things and Fred Hampton biopic Judas and the Black Messiah. The actor was also meant to star in Jordan Peele's next project, but had to drop out due to scheduling conflicts with the Scorsese title.

Killers of the Flower Moon is an Apple Original movie, joining the streamer's increased output with the likes of Ridley Scott's upcoming Napoleon Bonaparte biopic, Kitbag, starring Joaquin Phoenix. Previous movies released by Apple TV Plus include the Tom Hanks-led war drama Greyhound and Sofia Coppola's On the Rocks starring Bill Murray and Rashida Jones.

While we wait for Killers of the Flower Moon, make sure you've caught up with all the best movies of 2020. 

Emily Garbutt
Entertainment Writer

I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.