‘White Mars: Lucy Hale, Luke Newton to Star in New Sci-fi Thriller!!

Bridgerton star Luke Newton is going from Regency-era England to White Mars. He’ll star in the upcoming science fiction thriller alongside Lucy Hale. Deadline reports that the film is now in production.

The “White Mars” of the title is the inhospitable terrain of Antarctica, where the film is set. Hale will play Sammie, a microbiologist at the remote Aquila Research Facility, while Newton will play Leon, one of her coworkers. They’ll be forced to save their crew members from a malevolent entity that wants to destroy them all – shades of The Thing, perhaps. The film is the latest sci-fi thriller from director Martin Owen; he recently co-directed the astronaut survival thriller Above the Below with Idris Elba, who also stars in the film. White Mars is currently in production in Rome, and will be shot entirely in a virtual production environment akin to “The Volume“, the technology pioneered by The Mandalorian.

Who Is Luke Newton?

British actor Luke Newton made his screen debut in 2010 on the third season of the BBC teen drama The Cut. He went on to guest on the British TV series Mr. Selfridge, Sadie J, and Doctors. He subsequently starred in the Disney Channel mystery series The Lodge, and also starred in the Syfy original creature feature Lake Placid: Legacy alongside Joe Pantoliano; it detailed the origins of the monstrous crocodile that would go on to menace Bill Pullman and Bridget Fonda in the original 1999 film. Newton broke out with his role as third Bridgerton son Colin Bridgerton on Netflix‘s adaptation of the popular Bridgerton novels; a supporting character for the first two seasons of the show, he was the lead character in the series’ third season, which focused on his romance with Penelope Featherington (Nicola Coughlan). He is next set to lend his voice to the Portuguese animated feature Viana: Legend of the Golden Hearts.

White Mars is written by Matt Mitchell and Vicki Sargent, both of whom wrote the script for Above the Below, with Roo Berry. Future Artists Entertainment’s Matt Williams will produce alongside Neil Jones, with Steve Griffith and Steve Jelley from Singularity Entertainment. Singularity will co-finance the film with XYZ Entertainment. White Mars will be Singularity‘s first feature; it is a production company “specializing in virtual production and streamlined processes for independent films”.