After spending six whole seasons rubbing shoulders with the impossibly attractive cast of The Vampire Diaries, actress Nina Dobrev left Mystic Falls in her rearview mirror earlier this year to pursue new creative ventures, and the first major project to fall on her lap comes in the form of Peter Hutchings’ indie drama, Arrivals.
Deadline has the news, revealing that Dobrev will star opposite both Asa Butterfield and Game of Thrones alum Maisie Williams in the coming-of-age picture, which is edging closer and closer to a production start. Working from a script by Fergal Rock, Hutchings’ low-key drama is on point to begin filming at some point before the year’s end in Cape Town, South Africa.
Joining the fray as love interest to Asa Butterfield’s American college dropout, Dobrev will portray a flight attendant known as Izzy. Working as a baggage handler in the city’s airport, Butterfield’s Calvin is a humble do-gooder simply looking to make ends meet, though a chance meeting with Maisie Williams’ terminally ill teenage girl changes all of that.
Brandishing a bucket list that she hopes to complete before she meets her maker, it’s really the dynamic between Williams’ character and Calvin that will act as the backbone of Arrivals. Coming-of-age dramas that lean on terminally ill characters as a crutch have become remarkably popular in recent years, with Hollywood fast-tracking numerous vehicles such as The Fault in Our Stars and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, though the blossoming star power at the heart of Hutchings’ drama is enough for us to lend the director’s latest the benefit of the doubt.
Still no word on a specific release date for Arrivals, nor when Dobrev and Co. will step in front of the cameras. As for her new co-star, Asa Butterfield will be next seen starring in Tim Burton’s Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, which is slated for March.
