Woody Harrelson Signs on As Villain on New 'Planet of the Apes' Film

LOS ANGELES - Woody Harrelson has been tapped to play a character called 'the Colonel' in the upcoming "War for the Planet of the Apes" from 20th Century Fox.

Matt Reeves, who directed las year's "Dawn of the Planet of the Apes," is returning to direct the new film. Peter Chernin, Dylan Clark, Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver will be producing. The new film will continue the story of Caesar, the evolved ape who battles humans in an apocalyptic future. It tells the story of genetically evolved apes led by Caesar who are threatened by a band of human survivors of the devastating virus unleashed a decade earlier.

Harrelson is currently filming "LBJ," where he plays President Lyndon B. Johnson, and is also set to return to the final "Hunger Games" which will release in theaters on Nov. 20. The former "Cheers" actor is today experiencing a resurgence following his critically-acclaimed work in the first season of HBO's "True Detective" which ended in February.