Jupiter Ascending Character Posters Reveal Mysterious Countdown Website

By David Wharton | Updated

This article is more than 2 years old

Love them or hate them, there’s no question that The Wachowskis’ movies never fall short in the ambition department. Whether you’re excited for their next film, Jupiter Ascending, probably has a lot to do with how you felt about Cloud Atlas, and whether you’re still bitter about the Matrix sequels. As for me, I loved the former and am too old to hold a grudge about the latter. Plus, while Jupiter Ascending may or may not be a flop, there’s no question that it’s going to be visually stunning, and some of that gorgeous world and character design is on full display in four new character posters for the film.

Channing

Channing Tatum is playing Caine, a genetically engineered wolf-human hybrid warrior sent to Earth to protect one Jupiter Jones (Mila Kunis), an improbably gorgeous cleaning lady whose DNA marks her as interplanetary royalty, not to mention owner of, well, the planet Earth.

Mila

Her destiny throws a wrench in the plans of the villainous Balem (Eddie Redmayne), heir to a powerful alien dynasty and a bit of a dick. He’s perfectly willing to harvest our entire homeworld for resources before letting Jupiter have it. He’d much rather just have her dead, however, so he sends a bunch of hired killers to remove her from the equation. And that’s where Caine comes into her life.

Redmayne

Also along for the ride is Sean Bean as Stinger, a former soldier and mentor to Caine. He’s living on Earth and trying to raise his daughter in peace, and I’m guessing the arrival of Caine and Jupiter on his doorstep will bode ill for him. Because, I mean, it’s Sean Bean. You know he’s going to die tragically. It’s what he does.

Bean

The character posters (you can see high-res versions over at IGN) also revealed a mysterious new website at cwastronomers.org. Right now it’s just a lot of alien writing and cryptic references to an impending Harvest, set to begin in — as of this writing — just over 50 days. Mark your calendars! Expect some sort of game, contest, or even just another trailer to reveal before Jupiter Ascending’s February release.

The Wachowskis have been an easy target for fanboy ire for years now, but I’m always interested to see what they’ll do next, even when I don’t actually like the finished product (Speed Racer comes to mind). There are plenty of people online already tarring and feathering Jupiter Ascending simply because of who made it, but I’m still holding out hope that it will be good fun. With the massive success of Guardians of the Galaxy and new Star Wars films on the horizon, space opera is en vogue again, and I love it.

Jupiter Ascending will descend into theaters on February 6, 2015.