Courtney B. Vance Boards Disney’s Live-Action ‘Lilo & Stitch’

EXCLUSIVE: Emmy and Tony-Award winner Courtney B. Vance has joined the cast of Disney‘s live-action Lilo & Stitch in the role of Cobra Bubbles, Deadline has learned.

Vance joins Billy Magnussen (No Time to Die), Zach Galifianakis and newcomer Maia Kealoha who has been tapped as Lilo.

It’s still unclear how the sequel’s plot will compare to the original 2002 animated film, that Hawaii-set story charted the friendship between a lonely girl named Lilo and the alien, Stitch, engineered to be a force of destruction.

In the Disney animated movie which grossed over $273M WW, Bubbles is a former CIA agent turned social worker—though in an undercover way as he is still working for the government. The role was voiced originally by Ving Rhames in the films and various TV projects. The character was also voiced by Terrence C. Carson, Kevin Michael Richardson and Richard Epcar.

The Dean Fleischer Camp-directed live-action film for Disney+ was written by Chris Kekaniokalani Bright from a previous draft by Mike Van Waes. Dan Lin and Jonathan Eirich will produce for Rideback, with Ryan Halprin exec producing for the company.

Vance is repped by UTA and Fox Rothschild. He’s a 2x Primetime Emmy Award winner for HBO’s Lovecraft Country (Guest Actor in a Drama Series) and The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story (Lead Actor in a Limited Series/Movie) for playing attorney Johnnie Cochran. Vance’s feature credits include The Hunt for Red October, Dangerous Minds, Space Cowboys, The Mummy, Isle of Dogs, Ben Is Back, and The Photograph among several others. On TV, he’s starred in Genius: Aretha Franklin, 61st Street, Revenge, Law & Order: Criminal Intent, and more.

Disney didn’t respond to request for comment.