by: S. Scott Stanikmas – Senior Staff Writer

The other day Dave Bautista hinted that he might have a part in a huge upcoming sequel and no we don’t mean Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 2. The former WWE World Champ dropped clues that he was close to signing on the dotted line for the Blade Runner sequel.

Those hints have now been confirmed as Warner Bros sent out a press release to announce that Bautista has been added to the cast. No word on what his role will be other than to say he will play an “important supporting role.”

I liked Big Dave in the first Guardians flick. He showed he could not only be the muscle but had great comedic timing too. However he really dropped the ball when he appeared in the last James Bond film Spectre. He was little more than window dressing. In a role that could have been the next Oddjob or Jaws, he instead had a half-ass fight with Agent 007 and got killed in a really lame way (not that that was his fault).

I have faith that director Denis Villeneuve will handle the muscular actor right and give him a role that he can make a mark with.

Below is WB’s official announcment:

LOS ANGELES, CA, APRIL 4, 2016 – Dave Bautista will join Ryan Gosling, Harrison Ford and Robin Wright in an important supporting role in Alcon Entertainment’s sequel to Ridley Scott’s 1982 masterpiece BLADE RUNNER, it was announced by Alcon co-founders and co-CEO’s Andrew Kosove and Broderick Johnson.

Director Denis Villeneuve (Sicario, Prisoners) is directing. Principal photography is scheduled to begin July 2016 and the film will be released by Warner Bros. in North America. Sony Pictures Releasing International will distribute in all overseas territories in all media.

The film is set several decades after the 1982 original, with Harrison Ford reprising his iconic role as Rick Deckard. The film is written by Hampton Fancher and Michael Green, and succeeds the initial story by Fancher and David Peoples based on Philip K. Dick’s novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. Story details, as well as Bautista’s character, are not being revealed.

Alcon Entertainment acquired the film, television and ancillary franchise rights to BLADE RUNNER in 2011 from the late producer Bud Yorkin and Cynthia Sikes Yorkin to produce prequels and sequels to the iconic science-fiction thriller. Cynthia Sikes Yorkin will produce along with Johnson and Kosove. Bud Yorkin will receive producer credit.

Frank Giustra and Tim Gamble, CEO’s of Thunderbird Films, will serve as executive producers. Ridley Scott will also executive produce. Bill Carraro will executive produce.

Bautista recently appeared in Marvel Studios’ blockbuster hit Guardians of the Galaxy and the newest installment of the James Bond franchise Spectre from Columbia Pictures. His upcoming projects include Lionsgate’s 2016 action film Marauders starring Bruce Willis and Adrian Grenier as well as Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 where he will reprise his role as Drax the Destroyer alongside Chris Pratt and Zoe Saldana, due out 2017 from Marvel Studios.