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The casting machine is really cranking, with 1.5 announcements about Guy Ritchie's Five Eyes coming out this week.

It's recently been confirmed that Josh Hartnett (Penny Dreadful) will be joining the spy drama, which will star Jason Statham in the lead,  reports Deadline. Hartnett is also working with Ritchie and Statham on the forthcoming action-thriller Wrath of Man, which might explain how this new union came about.

The ".5" announcement refers to Hugh Grant's involvement, as it's yet to be confirmed. We just saw Grant in 2019's The Gentlemen, also written and directed by Ritchie. Grant is everywhere these days... we have a feeling this is likely to happen.

It's not just these two — we can also look for Cary Elwes, who you may know from 1987's Princess Bride, or more recently, 2019's Stranger Things, as well as Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation), who signed on in December.

Now that we know who will be in the movie, what's it about?

"Five Eyes" actually refers to a global intelligence agency, that recruits an MI6 agent, Orson Fortune (Statham), to help prevent the sale of deadly weapons technology. Fortune is assigned to a CIA high-tech expert, named Sarah Field, who he is reluctant to work with.

Even so, the team go on a “globe-trotting” seek and stop mission, with billionaire arms broker Greg Simmonds as their target.

It's great that the description includes the characters, but it's not quite clear who is going to play who...

Ritchie will direct, with the screenplay coming from Ivan Atkinson and Marn Davies, who co-wrote The Gentleman and Wrath of Man.

Do you like that Ritchie includes A LOT of familiar faces or... is it over-the-top?