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More G.I. Joe Casting: Storm Shadow and Scarlett

by Alex Billington
December 19, 2007

Casting is really coming together well on G.I. Joe, and it sounds like this could be the next Transformers - another 80's franchise reinvigorated into a huge summer blockbuster. A couple of weeks ago we reported that Ray Park had been cast as ninja master Snake Eyes. Yesterday, Latino Review reported that Korean actor Byung-hun Lee had been cast as Storm Shadow, Snake Eye's brother and rival, and also that Rachel Nichols was cast as female G.I. Joe Shana "Scarlett" O'Hara. That's four primary G.I. Joe characters down, so who else is left?

Storm Shadow's (played by Byung-hun Lee) real name is Thomas S. Arashikage. Best known as the Cobra Commander's ninja bodyguard and assassin at times, he is the only member of the team to change sides several times, conflicted in loyalties between Cobra, G.I. Joe and his long relationship with his swordbrother Snake Eyes (played by Ray Park in the upcoming film). He usually wears a white uniform and mask. (For more details, head to Wikipedia.)

Scarlett (played by Rachel Nichols) is one of the main characters in the G.I. Joe series. Although she is as adept with standard weapons as any of her comrades, her weapon of choice is the crossbow which fires various bolts with specialized functions. Her rank is Master Sergeant, and she serves from time to time as team leader. Her primary specialty for the team is counter intelligence and is additionally skilled in martial arts and acrobatics. (For more details, head to Wikipedia.)

These two characters join alongside of Ray Park as Snake Eyes and Sienna Miller as a currently unannounced character. I'm getting the distinct feeling that this is turning into the fanboy movie-to-see for 2009 that will be as big of a hit (if not bigger) than Transformers from this year. We're 20 months out and it's already got excessive buzz just on casting alone. Another interesting thing to note is that if everything goes as planned, Transformers 2 could be done by 2009 as well - meaning we'll see two huge 80's franchises colliding that year.

From the Egyptian desert to deep below the polar ice caps, the elite co-ed GI JOE team, based from it’s headquarters The Pit, deploys the latest in next-gen spy and military equipment to fight crooked arms dealer Destro and the growing threat of the mysterious COBRA organization from plunging the world into chaos.

G.I. Joe is directed by Stephen Sommers (Deep Rising, The Mummy, Van Helsing) and written by both Stuart Beattie and Skip Woods. The movie arrives in theaters on August 7th, 2009.

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