Luc Besson directed one of the most memorable sci-fi movies of the ’90s with The Fifth Element, but in the nearly two decades since then he has seemingly shied away from the genre. During that time, however, he has been quietly developing his dream sci-fi project and now he is finally on the verge of making it a reality. That dream project is Valerian, a $180 million epic based on the French comic book series Valérian and Laureline by writer Pierre Christin and artist Jean-Claude Mézières. The comics served as some of the inspiration for The Fifth Element and Mézières actually did some production design work on that film. Now casting is underway on Valerian and production is expected to start at the end of this year. Hit the jump for more info.

According to THR, Clive Owen has joined the cast of Luc Besson’s Valerian where he will play a character named Commander Arün Filitt. He will join the two previously announced cast members, Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne, who are already on board to play the titular spatio-temporal agent and his female companion. The plot is being kept under wraps for now, but there are twenty-one volumes of the comic plus a short story collection from which Besson can draw (assuming he is planning a direct adaptation of the source material).

Luc Besson reportedly showed off some concept art for the film behind closed doors at the San Diego Comic-Con last month, where it was clear that it might be a challenge to market to North American audiences. Still, the comics are quite popular overseas and these days most big blockbusters are relying heavily on the global market anyway. Personally, I’m just excited about the prospect of a big budget space opera made by someone outside the Hollywood system. Valerian is scheduled to hit theatres on July 21, 2017; are you looking forward to Luc Besson’s next film?