With The Twilight Saga officially coming to an end last year, Andrew Niccol’s The Host marks the next adaptation of Stephenie Meyer’s work to hit the big screen, arriving in the spring.
The Oscar-nominated young Saoirse Ronan (Atonement, Hanna) takes the lead here, and judging by the first full-length trailer we saw late last year, we’ve got a pretty sweet sci-fi/thriller to look forward to next season.
A few days into the New Year, we were treated to a new set of banners from the film, and now AMC have debuted what looks to be the first in a new set of character posters, with Ronan front and centre below as Melanie Stryder.
“Melanie Stryder refuses to fade away. The earth has been invaded by a species that takes over the minds of their human hosts while leaving their bodies intact, and most of humanity has succumbed. Wanderer, the invading ‘soul’ who has been given Melanie’s body, knew about the challenges of living inside a human: the overwhelming emotions, the too-vivid memories. But there was one difficulty Wanderer didn’t expect: the former tenant of her body refusing to relinquish possession of her mind. Melanie fills Wanderer’s thoughts with visions of the man Melanie loves – Jared, a human who still lives in hiding. Unable to separate herself from her body’s desires, Wanderer yearns for a man she’s never met. As outside forces make Wanderer and Melanie unwilling allies, they set off to search for the man they both love.”
Starring alongside Ronan will be Max Irons (Red Riding Hood) and Jake Abel (Percy Jackson), completing the leading trio, supported by Diane Kruger (Inglourious Basterds), William Hurt (A History of Violence), and Chandler Canterbury (Repo Men).
Niccol is directing from his own script, coming off the back of 2011’s blockbuster success, In Time, led by Justin Timberlake and Amanda Seyfried.
Meyer has spoken previously of considering the possibility of turning her original novel into a trilogy, and if that does indeed come to pass, then we’ll no doubt have plenty more to look forward to from this universe in the years to come. Time will tell.
The Host has been moved forward by a week here in the UK, coming to theatres on 22nd March. Its US release date is still set for 29th March, and you can bet that they’re both going to be big weekends on either side of the Atlantic. For now, here’s the first character poster, which you can click through to enlarge.
