Updated: No One's Been Like Gaston… But Luke Evans Will Be, And Dan Stevens Is The Beast

Variety reports that Luke Evans - who you may have recently seen in the third film of the Hobbit duology - will play the villainous Gaston in Disney's upcoming live-action remake of Beauty and the Beast. Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey) is in talks to play the Beast according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Luke Evans

It was previously announced that Emma Watson will be playing Belle in this new version of the classic fairy tale. We now have a Gaston and a Beast, so the pieces of the puzzle are assembling pretty quickly.

Dan Stevens

Beauty and the Beast, directed by Bill Condon and set for a 2016 release, is one of many Disney animated-to-live-action remakes currently in various stages of production. Cinderella (directed by Kenneth Branagh) is just around the corner. Then there's Jon Favreau's Jungle Book also coming in 2016 and we even heard rumors of Dumbo being remade (still shivering with fear over there by the way).

Does this originality excite you? And what do you think of the casting of Luke Evans as Gaston? What about Dan Stevens as the Beast? Are you willing to give Beauty and the Beast a chance?