There really hasn’t been a lot of word trickling out for the sequel to the much maligned X-Men Origins: Wolverine. It might have to do with most people shutting down after hearing that Darren Aronofsky had left the project. After Aronofsky left, James Mangold (who made the criminally underrated Copland) took up the reins, and it’s set to begin shooting soon. Which means that it’s getting cast already. 4 Japanese actors have since been signed up.
Hiroyuki Sanada, Hal Yamanouchi, Tao Okamoto and Rila Fukushima are being said to be cast in The Wolverine, which is going to feature Logan going up against the Ninja clan, The Hand. Of those actors, the only one I recognize is Hal Yamanouchi who was in Push, and from Joe D’Amato’s brilliant Italian Post-Apocalyptic film, Endgame. In that one he plays a character named Ninja. Yes, that’s his name. It’s not Bob or Ted. Just Ninja.
Then names for the characters as well as who is playing them are Hiroyuki Sanada as Shingen; Hal Yamanouchi as Yashida, Tao Okamoto as Mariko and Rila Fukushima as Yukio.
If you have no idea who they are. This trusty link to Wikipedia sheds light on who 3 of those 4 are. The only one unknown is “Yashida” who interestingly enough is the last name for both “Shingen” and “Mariko”, so he will most likely be a relative.
Look for more casting announcements to start coming up. I bet Taylor Kitsch is praying for them to write Gambit into it, and full disclosure: I liked X-Men Origins: Wolverine. Even with the shit CGI.
source: Cinema Blend
Look for more casting info to pop up soon.