Ready Player One Cover Art

Ready Player One, originally a novel by Ernest Cline, takes place in the near future and highlights the drastic differences between the war-torn desperate reality of 2045, and the perfectly structured virtual world known as OASIS. A virtual world where main character Wade Watts escapes to find solace and to continue his search for a hidden fortune. And just like walking into an arcade, it'll only cost users a quarter to join OASIS.

Steven Spielberg was attached to the adaption back in March of 2015, and since then, the small cast has filled out. Young talent like Olivia Cooke (Ouiji) as Artemis and Tye Sheridan (X-Men: Apocalypse) as Wade Watts will take lead roles, while Hollywood veterans like Simon Pegg, Mark Rylance, and T.J. Miller are playing some of the supporting characters. We now know the last of the major characters has been cast, and sci-fi fans should be pleased with the news.

Deadline is reporting that Hannah John-Kamen has been cast in a lead role. The actress has most recently been seen on Black Mirror, a Netflix series; as a recurring character on HBO's Game of Thrones; and most notably plays the team leader in the SyFy original series, Killjoys, which returns for its second season on Friday, July 1st. While Deadline does not specifically mention the role for which she was cast, fans of the book will have a pretty good idea of where to find her.

Hannah John-Kamen Killjoys

The story of Ready Player One is one long love letter to the 1980s in which Wade makes several references to actual music and films of the time, including quite a few from the famed director himself. To avoid going full meta, however, Spielberg told Collider that he removed "most" of the references to his films.

"I think we were pretty awesome in the ‘80s. I hope the movie returns all of us to the awesomeness of the ‘80s. I love the ‘80s. I think one of the reasons I decided to make the movie was that it brought me back to the ‘80s and lets me do anything I want, except for with my own movies. I’ve cut most of my movies out of [Ernest Cline’s] book. Except for the DeLorean and a couple of other things that I had something to do with, I cut a lot of my own references out of the ‘80s. I was very happy to see there was enough without me that made the ‘80s a great time to grow up."

Humble brags from Spielberg aside, considering his work in the '80s he may prove to be the best suited to adapting Cline's novel. It may prove more challenging for Spielberg since the story of Ready Player One includes so many references to his work the director will need to find the right balance between too much and too little. Still, considering all the talent on board the adaptation - both in front of and behind the camera - this film is shaping up to be a fun, nostalgic trip back to the future.

Ready Player One is expected to hit theaters on March 29, 2018.

Sources: DeadlineCollider