Andy Serkis’s Jungle Book: Origins has just added a swathe of famous names to its vocal cast, following yesterday’s announcement that Benedict Cumberbatch would be playing Shere Khan.

THR reports that Christian Bale will supply the voice of Bagheera the panther, while Cate Blanchett has signed on to play the hypnotic snake, Kaa.

Meanwhile, Peter Mullan will voice Akela, leader of the wolf pack that raises Mowgli, with Naomie Harris and Eddie Marsan playing wolf couple Nish and Vihaan.

Tom Hollander has also joined the production as Tabaqui, a jackal who serves as one of Shere Khan’s underlings. Not a bad set of names to add to a project that didn’t have a single cast member at the beginning of the week!

Directed by Serkis from a script by Callie Kloves (daughter of the film’s producer, Steve Kloves), Jungle Book: Origins will open in the US on 21 October 2016 with a UK date to be confirmed.