The Devils

I recently finished Joe Abercrombie’s newest novel, The Devils, which is not part of his First Law universe. It is set in an alternate Europe, where monsters are real, and the Church is fighting a war against Elves. There are tons of differences in this world, the Church revolves around a savior, but instead of Jesus, it was a girl. The Pope is a young girl, and the priesthood is women. The Church split, but with one side based in Rome and the other in Troy. 

The plot of the book is fairly simple, a group of evil monsters has to escort a long-lost princess from Rome to Troy to take the throne. It is like the Suicide Squad, but set in in medieval Europe. Like any Abercrombie book, you get amazing fight scenes, and plenty of plot twists that you did not expect. 

The book was cool, but it was confusing at first. I feel like we needed a quick explanation about this world. Or maybe the back of the book had something like that…one of the disadvantages of listening to audiobooks. It just starts off talking about female bishops, and the pope being a 10-year old girl. It was a bit confusing. But it starts to make sense fairly quick. 

I have not done a casting call in awhile, so I thought it would be fun to do one with this book. 

I should probably mention that there will be spoilers at the bottom for some of these characters…

Alexia: Sophia Lillis–they describe her as looking a little bit like a ferret. She needs to have that street urchin look. Then learn the regal bearing that Baron Rickard teaches her.
Brother Diaz: Omar Ayuso–he is Spanish. I just enjoyed Ayuso’s haircut, and it is very much how I pictured the reluctant monk to look.
Jakob of Thorn: Sean Bean–okay, this one is kind of funny. A knight who cannot die played by an actor who dies in every movie.
Sunny: Ivanna Sakhno–The elf that turns invisible. There are a few actresses who could pull off that elf look (all of their names have been mentioned for Zelda).
Vigga: Holly Holm–this was a tough one. A werewolf who likes to fuck just about anyone she can find (and eventually seduces the good Brother Diaz). She is a big Swedish woman, who is incredibly strong (I am guessing she retains some of her wolf power in her human form). Hear me out, I think Holly Holm would be perfect. I have no clue if she could do the accent (but she does have some Nordic ancestry), and she is still ripped in her 40s (I think she is still fighting). Also, I want to hear her say “Ow, you poked me in the tit.” That should be the line they use for tryouts.
Balthazar: Keegan-Michael Key–not going to lie, I saw this one on a few message boards and I absolutely loved it. The third greatest magician in Europe has some very funny scenes (like I can totally hear Key with a ridiculous accent correcting everyone that he is not a sorcerer, but a magician).
Baptiste: Florence Pugh–this is another fan-casting that is all over the internet. It just works. I can totally see Pugh playing our favorite adventurer, saying things like “I should have retired after Barcelona” or “I once modeled for the painter…” or “As a matter of fact, I worked for awhile as a cobbler” (since she had just about every job possible).
Baron Rickard: Mateusz Wieclawek–our Polish vampire, who likes to enthrall his victims with stories about his wife’s dumplings. The actor will need to wear some heavy makeup to make him look old and decrepit, then as he feeds younger. I like Wieclawek because he is actually Polish, and he is good looking. But, if we have room in the budget…it would be funny to have Robert Pattinson. Like totally hamming it up with a thick accent, and finally getting to play an actual vampire.
Duke Michael: Jude Law–Alexia’s uncle who sets the whole thing in motion. Look, Jude Law has been great the last few years as the villain. I loved him in Captain Marvel and Skeleton Crew. He would totally pull off the twist at the end that he was the bad guy.
Lady Severin: Elizabeth Debicki–Lady Severin is not in the book for long, but she is described as being tall and having an insanely long neck. Who better than Debicki?

So what do you think?