Johnny Galecki Joins Horror Sequel Rings

Production is underway on ‘Rings,’ the latest installment in the US horror series adapted from Japan’s ‘Ringu’ franchise, and a new addition has been made to the cast in Johnny Galecki.

The 39-year old star of TV’s ‘The Big Bang Theory’ will star in the horror sequel as “Gabriel, a handsome, pleasure-seeking professor who mentors and helps boyfriend and girlfriend duo, Holt (Alex Roe) and Julia (Matilda Lutz),” Bloody Disgusting reports.

The “handsome” and “pleasure-seeking” description would imply Galecki may be playing a little against type, given he’s best known for playing the somewhat less glamorous academic Leonard Hofstadter on the small screen. 

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Still, this isn’t Galecki’s first dalliance with the horror genre, as he also had a supporting role in 1997 hit ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer’ - in the wake of his other successful long-running sitcom role on ‘Roseanne.’

As well as Matilda Lutz and Alex Roe, ‘Rings’ will also star Aimee Teegarden and Andrea Powell. F. Javier Gutiérrez directs, and Guillermo del Toro is an executive producer on the Paramount Pictures production.

‘The Ring’ was a hit for director Gore Verbinski and star Naomi Watts in 2002. Its success inspired Hollywood to remake more recent Asian horror hits such as ‘The Grudge,’ ‘The Eye’ and ‘Dark Water.’

It also spawned a sequel in 2005′s ‘The Ring Two,’ directed by Hideo Nakata, filmmaker behind the original ‘Ringu.’

‘Rings’ was initially reported to be a prequel, but Gutiérrez has since clarified this is not the case, though it is believed the film deals in some ways with the genesis of Samara and that dreaded VHS tape.

It is due in cinemas on the suitably spooky date of Friday 13 November 2015.

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Picture Credit: WENN, Paramount