Willem Dafoe has signed to join Matt Damon in The Great Wall, Legendary’s fantastical retelling of the origin of China’s wondrous barrier.

Zhang Yimou is directing the feature that is a pet project of Legendary CEO Thomas Tull, who conceived it with World War Z writer Max Brooks.

It is eyeing an April start in China.

Damon, who is in final negotiations, will star as a soldier who is part of a group of mercenaries traveling to China in order to bring back gunpowder to Europe. When the group is attacked by mystical beasts, the man finds himself in a war between a secret warrior clan and the beasts.

Dafoe's character role is being kept under wraps. 

Dafoe is coming off a banner year, that started with by being part of the ensemble of Wes Anderson's Oscar-nominated film The Grand Budapest Hotel.  Appearing in the hit weepie The Fault In Our Stars and A Most Wanted Man followed, then he capped it off with a turn in John Wick, the fan-favorite Keanu Reeves action movie.

He is repped by CAA and Circle of Confusion.

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Feb. 12 6:55. A previous version of this story said Dafoe was playing a soldier who survives with Damon.