The cast of Netflix’s next science fiction film, Atlas, has expanded yet more. Once Upon a Time’s Lana Parrilla has reportedly joined the cast, as reported by Deadline. She joins the already announced Sterling K. Brown (This Is Us), Abraham Popoola (Empire), and Jennifer Lopez (Marry Me) (The Great). There is currently no information available on Parrilla’s character since Netflix is keeping all character details under wraps. It’s the same with the story, actually; we know very little. Its protagonist, an intelligence analyst pitted against a villainous AI soldier out to destroy civilization, is the only thing we know about the plot.
In order to counteract the threat, Atlas will need to overcome her apprehension and work together with another artificial intelligence. Parrilla has been a TV and movie star since her debut in Grown-Ups in 1999. Her credits since then include roles in 24 as a series regular, a frequent guest spot on Six Feet Under, and the film Mistaken Identity (also known as The Double Life of Eleanor Kendall). But Parrilla’s breakthrough role came in 2011 on Once Upon a Time, an ABC smash. Starring Parrilla, Regina Mills/Evil Queen is largely responsible for bringing the show’s characters to Storybrooke and setting the plot in motion.
In keeping with her fairy tale identity, Regina was presented throughout the series as a villain who will do anything to ruin the protagonists’ happy endings. It was inevitable that she would make the reluctant decision to join the heroic ranks. In the years after the series’ cancellation, Parrilla appeared in the follow-up season of Why Women Kill, the film The Tax Collector, and the documentary Split at the Root, for which she also served as executive producer. Aron Eli Coleite adapts Leo Sardarian’s screenplay for Atlas.
Directing duties will go to Brad Peyton, with Jeff Fierson serving as producer for ASAP Entertainment. Lopez, Elaine Goldsmith-Thomas, and Benny Medina of Nuyorican Productions, together with Joby Harold and Tory Tunnell of Safehouse Pictures, serve as producers. Courtney Baxter and Matt Schwartz serve as executive producers with Greg Berlanti and Sarah Schechter of Berlanti/Schechter Films. Managing the production is Mike McGrath. There is currently no scheduled release date for Atlas.