Now that Ubisoft Motion Pictures and New Regency have premiered the first trailer for Assassin’s Creed, we’re beginning to discover some concrete details relating to Justin Kurzel’s hotly-anticipated historical feature.
Much of it, of course, revolves around Michael Fassbender’s dual role of Callum Lynch/Aguilar, who will spend time flitting between past and future as he looks to topple a “powerful Templar organization.” In fact, almost two-thirds of Assassin’s Creed is set to take place in the present day.
That opens up a wealth of possibility for Kurzel’s origins story, and recently Michael K. Williams revealed that he’s on board to play a character from Ubisoft’s original video game franchise. Imprisoned in the bowels of the nefarious Abstergo Industries much like Fassbender’s lead, Williams noted to Screen Rant that his character will be called Moussa. But upon taking advantage of the Animus, he’ll step into the shoes of Baptiste, a deadly assassin that first appeared in Assassin’s Creed: Liberation.
“My character, he’s in this prison, whatever this place we call it. His name is Moussa. He is going to… When he becomes an Assassin, he’s going to channel his ancestor, which is a voodoo poisoner who has been dead for about 200 years. His name is Baptiste.”
Drawing attention to the relationship his character shares with Fassbender, Williams wrapped up the interview by teasing how Moussa and Callum’s connection pans out while housed up in Abstergo.
“Even in this place, there’s not a secret that we have powers. So they know that Moussa plays with magic and things of that nature. And they encourage that we do these things so they can siphon it out of our brains with the thing they stick in the back of our heads. They want our power on some level. So they give us the little safe havens of, they feel, safe environments to play with our gifts.”
Assassin’s Creed makes a beeline for theaters on December 21 – potentially jump-starting a bona fide trilogy of historical epics in the process. Marion Cotillard, Ariane Labed, Jeremy Irons and Brendan Gleeson also star.
