Casting spells

Orcs! Royalty! Sorcerers! Buzz rounds up Warcraft’s key players on both sides of the battle.

ALLIANCE

Lothar

Travis Fimmel (best known for TV series Vikings) plays Anduin Lothar, a high-ranking warrior in the Alliance who could be pivotal (if they’re sticking closely to Warcraft lore).

Medivh

Ben Foster will be bringing intensity to this Magus - a hooded sorcerer. “He took a break,” says Foster. “We meet him as his friends are asking for his help in a battle.”

King Llane

Brit actor Dominic Cooper (occasionally seen swanning around the Marvel universe as Howard Stark) is the heavily armoured royal who leads the city of Stormwind.

Khadgar

Ben Schnetzer, recently seen in both The Riot Club and Pride plays a young and supremely gifted Mage. “There’s a whole mythology behind everything,” he says.

Horde

Durotan

Toby Kebbell earned his mo-cap stripes in Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes, and he’s playing a noble Orc chieftain here. Expect a practiced balance of presence and nuance.

Gul’dan

Chinese action star Daniel Wu plays an Orc ruler ‘fuelled by a dark magic that even he cannot control’. Titles include Darkness Incarnate and Destroyer of Dreams. Nice.

Blackhand

Imposing character actor Clancy Brown (Captain Byron in The Shawshank Redemption) plays one of the most fearsome Orc warchiefs.

Orgrim

Ex-EastEnder Rob Kazinsky plays Orgrim, Blackhand’s second-in-command and wielder of the Doomhammer, a mythical mallet that would give Thor hammer envy.

On the fence

Garona

Paula Patton will play the less obviously aligned Garona – as a green-skinned half-Orc, she’ll likely draw comparisons to Guardians’ antihero Gamora. MM