Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer Just Landed A Fan-Favorite Vikings Star
Following his most recent film, 2020's "Tenet," filmmaker Christopher Nolan's next film is titled "Oppenheimer" and is scheduled to be released via Universal Pictures next year. Cillian Murphy is starring as the titular J. Robert Oppenheimer, who is the theoretical physicist known as one of the "fathers of the atomic bomb." During World War II, Oppenheimer played a major role in the Manhattan Project, which developed the first nuclear weapons. Nolan based the screenplay on the 2005 biography, "American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer" by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin.
Since Murphy's casting was announced in October of 2021, as reported by Deadline, a slew of big name actors have been added to the roster. The star-studded cast includes Emily Blunt as Oppenheimer's wife Kitty, Matt Damon as director of the Manhattan Project Leslie Groves, Robert Downey Jr. as the chairman of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, and Florence Pugh as psychiatrist-physician Jean Tatlock. The supporting cast also includes Rami Malek, Benny Safdie, Josh Hartnett, Dane DeHaan, Jack Quaid and Josh Peck.
And, as it turns out, the cast is not yet complete — "Oppenheimer" has just landed a fan-favorite "Vikings" actor.
Gustaf Skarsgard has joined Oppenheimer
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, "Vikings" actor Gustaf Skarsgard has joined the cast of "Oppenheimer" a month after filming began (via Screen Daily). According to THR, Skarsgard will play Hans Bethe, "a German-American nuclear physicist who won the 1967 Nobel Prize in physics and was tasked by Oppenheimer to head up the T (Theoretical) division of the Manhattan Project."
Skarsgard is most known for playing Floki in History Channel's historical drama "Vikings" for six seasons from 2013-2020 (via IMDb). Skarsgard also had a major role in Season 2 of HBO's "Westworld," which, notably, was co-created by Christopher Nolan's brother Jonathan Nolan. In 2020, he starred in the Netflix series, "Cursed," as well as the historical drama film "The Emigrants." Alongside "Oppenheimer," Skarsgard will next be seen in a film called "What Remains," which is currently in post-production but the release date is unknown.
"Oppenheimer" will be released to theaters on July 21, 2023 (via Collider).