Anyone who enjoys the work of director Wes Anderson has long considered the Wilson brothers superheroes. And while Owen eventually became the bigger star thanks to films like Wedding Crashers, his brother Luke is the first to actually become one.
Deadline reports that Luke Wilson has been cast as Pat Dugan in the DC Universe show Stargirl, a role that was specifically crafted for him without the actor even knowing it.
“When I first moved to Los Angeles in 1996 and saw Bottle Rocket, I became a huge fan and admirer of Luke’s,” Geoff Johns, who’ll play the title character (real name: Courtney Whitmore) on the show. In the comics, Pat Dugan was Courtney’s stepfather, who also happened to be the one-time sidekick (named Stripsey) to Sylvester Pemberton, the original hero known as the Star-Spangled Kid (née Starman). When Courtney followed in Sylvester’s footsteps and eventually became Stargirl, her stepfather came out of retirement and reforged Stripsey as STRIPE, a powered exosuit he uses to fight alongside Stargirl.
Wilson joins a cast that also includes “Lou Ferrigno Jr. as Rex Tyler/Hourman, Brian Stapf as Ted Grant/Wildcat, and Henry Thomas as Charles McNider/Dr Mid-Nite,” according to the trade, as well Joel McHale, possibly, as Sylvester Pemberton/Starman.. The show does not yet have a release date.
We will now restrain ourselves from making copious Old School, Bottle Rocket, and Royal Tenenbaums references about Wilson’s casting and let you do that in the comments, if you so desire.