It’s no secret things get kinky in Fifty Shades Darker, the sequel to last year’s (punishing) BDSM romance, but it looks like they might also get more than a little hairy. According to TheWrap, Teen Wolf actor Tyler Hoechlin is coming aboard the Universal pic, taking on the supporting role of (no joke) Boyce Fox, who works with Anastasia Steele (star Dakota Johnson) at a publishing company.
Hoechlin, who plays Derek Hale on MTV’s Teen Wolf, is on the cusp of a Hollywood breakthrough, with roles in the spy actioner Stratton (which stars Dominic Cooper) and Richard Linklater’s college comedy Everybody Wants Some both in the can. Fifty Shades Darker will be his first bona fide blockbuster title – though his role, beefed up significantly from a heard-but-not-seen figure in the books, still seems somewhat fleeting.
Casting has been steadily taking place on the slightly delayed Fifty Shades of Grey follow-up, which Secretary‘s James Foley will direct from a script by Niall Leonard (husband of source material author E.L. James, who is expected to maintain dominatrix-style control over both this sequel and planned trilogy topper Fifty Shades Freed). Sam Taylor-Johnson had a notoriously hard time working with James on the first film due to her refusal to depart from a very strict vision for the adaptation, so let’s all say a little prayer for Foley before blowing out the candles tonight.
The Knick actor Eric Johnson is already on board to play Jack Hyde, the romantic rival of control-freak business magnate Christian Grey (Jamie Dornan), whose complicated relationship with Anastasia is at the center of the trilogy. Other new additions to the franchise include Pride and Prejudice and Zombies breakout Bella Heathcoate as one of Christian’s exes with dark designs on Anastasia, and Kim Basinger as an older lover of Christian’s who also happens to be his business partner.
Luke Grimes, Eloise Mumford, Victor Rasuk, Rita Ora, Max Martini and Marcia Gay Harden are all returning to the fold for Fifty Shades Darker, which is currently filming.
Though the popularity of these movies, which romanticize an abusive relationship and reward a manipulative man for using class status to strong-arm a younger woman into her first sexual relationship (positive messages, hooray!), is undeniably troubling, Darker and Freed have accrued a wealth of talent in the aftermath of Fifty Shades of Grey‘s dominating performance at the Valentine’s Day box office last year. Arielle Kebbell and Brant Daugherty have already signed on to star in Fifty Shades Freed, and Pitch Perfect‘s Rebel Wilson is also going after a role in that threequel.
Fifty Shades Darker opens Feb. 10, 2017, while Fifty Shades Freed is set for Feb. 8 the following year.