New Netflix action thriller casts Forest Whitaker alongside Tom Hardy

(Image credit: 20th Television)

Forest Whitaker has joined the cast of Netflix's upcoming action thriller, Havoc. Tom Hardy is already on board to star in the movie from The Raid director Gareth Evans.

The movie follows the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong, when a detective must fight his way through the criminal underworld to rescue a politician's estranged son, as well as tackling the corruption and conspiracy that overwhelms his city.

Whitaker's last role was in another Netflix movie, although one with a slightly different tone – he played Jeronicus Jangle in the festive flick Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey. We can next see him on the big screen in Respect, the Jennifer Hudson-led Aretha Franklin biopic. Meanwhile, behind the camera, he recently produced the indie drama Passing starring Ruth Negga and Tessa Thompson, which premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival.

As for Evans, his most recent project was the series Gangs of London, which he also created and wrote. The action crime drama features an ensemble cast including Peaky Blinders' Joe Cole, as well as plenty of gritty fight scenes – a sure sign of what we can expect from Havoc. His last time in the director's chair was for the 2018 Netflix movie Apostle, a period horror pic starring Beauty and the Beast's Dan Stevens as a man who must rescue his sister from an evil cult on a remote island.