Ben Foster for villainous role in Inferno?

Ben Foster is to play a villain in ‘Inferno’.

The ‘Lone Survivor’ star is in talks to star alongside Tom Hanks in a key villainous role in Sony and Imagine Entertainment’s upcoming sequel to ‘The Da Vinci Code’, based on the novels by Dan Brown, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Hanks is reprising his role as symbologist Robert Langdon while Ron Howard is to return to the director’s chair.

The movie will see Langdon drawn into a conspiracy to unleash a deadly plague centred on ‘Dante’s Inferno’, the 14th Century epic poem about the nine circles of hell.

Foster is being lined up to play a genius scientist who is obsessed with Inferno and plans to solve the world’s overpopulation crisis by releasing a virus.

Meanwhile, ‘The Theory of Everything’ actress Felicity Jones, Omar Sy and Irrfan Khan are also set to appear in the upcoming sequel – which is expected to begin production next month – with Brian Grazer set to produce alongside Imagine’s Anna Culp as executive producer.

Foster recently wrapped filming on a number of projects including the Lance Armstrong biopic ‘Icon’, ‘The Finest Hour’ and ‘Warcraft’.