‘Dumbo’ live-action film cast ‘Game of Thrones’ star DeObia Oparei as Rongo

The cast of Tim Burton’s Dumbo is starting to take shape as Game of Thrones alum DeObia Oparei has signed on to play a character named Rongo in the live-action adaptation of Disney’s 1941 animated classic.

There are no details on Oparei’s character as production ramps up.

Burton reunites with Eva Green, Danny DeVito, and Michael Keaton, who headline the cast which includes Colin Farrell, who stars as Holt, a widowed father of two kids played by newcomers Nico Parker and Finley Hobbins.

The story follows the aforementioned Holt, a former circus star who finds his life turned upside down when he returns from the war. Circus owner Max Medici (DeVito) enlists him to care for a newborn elephant whose oversized ears make him a laughingstock in an already struggling circus. But when Holt’s children discover that Dumbo can fly, V.A. Vandevere (Keaton) and an aerial artist named Colette Marchant (Green) swoop in to exploit the pachyderm.

Roshan Seth, Sharon Rooney, and Douglas Reith have also joined the cast in undisclosed roles.

Ehren Kruger (the Transformers sequels) wrote the screenplay and will produce alongside Derek Frey (Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Frankenweenie), Katterli Frauenfelder (Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, Big Eyes) and Justin Springer (Tron: Legacy).

Oparei is best known for his role as Areo Hotah, captain of the Dornish guard, in Seasons 5 and 6 of HBO’s Game of Thrones, but also starred in Independence Day: Resurgence and has appeared in Netflix’s Santa Clarita Diet and NBC’s Emerald City.

His other credits include Dredd, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Your Highness, Doom, Moulin Rouge and Alien 3.

The new film is said to “add a unique family story that parallels Dumbo’s journey” and pad out the 1941 film’s hour-long runtime with new material that “deepens the circus aspect of the story.”

Dumbo is set for theaters March 29, 2019.