Zlatan Ibrahimović cast as Roman legionary in new Asterix film

The fifth live-action Asterix film, "Asterix e Obelix: il regno di mezzo" (Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom), is set for release in February 2023, distributed in Italy by Notorious Pictures. Directed by Guillaume Canet, who also stars as Asterix alongside Gilles Lellouche as Obelix, the plot follows the duo aiding Fu Yi, daughter of Chinese emperor Han Xuandi, who flees a wicked prince to Gaul. The star-studded cast includes Marion Cotillard as Cleopatra, Vincent Cassel as Julius Caesar, and football legend Zlatan Ibrahimović as Roman legionary Caius Antivirus. Ibrahimović, AC Milan striker, promoted the trailer on social media with "Vive la France". The Asterix comic series began in 1959 by René Goscinny and Albert Uderzo in Pilote magazine, with the first album published in 1974. The 39th and final album, "Asterix and the Griffin" (2021), was written and drawn by Jean-Yves Ferri and Didier Conrad, marking the first post-Uderzo release.