First pics from ‘Underworld: Rise of the Lycans’
Monday, July 28, 2008 at 8:59PM | By Franck Tabouring 
This time, the main story line examines the origins of the ruthless feud between the Death Dealers and the Lycans. Bill Nighy, Michael Sheen and Shane Brolly all return to reprise their roles from the first film and its follow-up, “Underworld: Evolution.”
Rhona Mitra will be stepping in for Kate Beckinsale (who starred as the lead in the two previous flicks), but she will play a different character. “Underworld: Rise of the Lycans” is scheduled to open everywhere Jan. 23, 2009. Click right here to see all the pics at Entertainment Weekly.
I really enjoyed the first film but pretty much hated the sequel, so I can’t say I’m overly excited about this third adventure. Mitra is certainly a decent choice for the role of the new central character, but I have to admit Beckinsale looked way hotter.
Reader Comments (7)
"Mitra plays Sonja, the secret lover of Lycan leader Lucian (played by Michael Sheen), who must help battle the Death Dealer army to win the werewolves' freedom."
IF that's true, then it's a major plot adjustment and a really bad one that doesn't fit. Also, anyone who hated the sequel, couldn't have liked the first movie that much. Other than being too short and not enough content, the sequel was pretty fun. Sad to see the cast changes. I think it could be the end, depends on if this movie is worth the print.
The first movie was great, the second one sucked and this third one, the prequel will definitively rock! can't wait to see the medieval fight between vampires and lycans! go lucian!
Has anyone noticed that the author of this "article" left out an important piece of info in regards to this statement??????
"Rhona Mitra will be stepping in for Kate Beckinsale, who played the lead character in the two previous films."
Franck, as the author, you do realize they are 2 different characters, right?
Rhona Mitra=Sonja
Kate Beckinsale=Selene
Of course, and I never said she'd be playing the same character.
Rhona Mitra will basically replace Kate in the lead female role, not as the same character.
Sorry if I didn't express it clearly enough.
Might be interesting.. But according to rumours; Kate will be back ( -in black) as Selene in a 4th movie set to follow the Selene/Michael story...
“IF that's true, then it's a major plot adjustment and a really bad one that doesn't fit.”
No not really! I haven’t seen the film for a couple of years so forgive me if I am a little fuzzy on the details but Sonja appears in flashbacks in the first film (played by a different actress). She is the daughter of Viktor who falls for Lucian. Viktor kills her I think they said in the voiceover that she was pregnant with a half vampire half lycan baby at the time. It implies that the rise of the lycans happened after and because of this, therefore a story could easily be made to fit leading up to these events. I guess they are going to jiggle it around a bit to give Sonja a larger role and some action but the end result will still need to end the same.
Hey Gary (Dude Who wrote on August 16, 2008), way to take that quote out of context! You neglect to complete said Quote! The Quote reads,
"Rhona Mitra will be stepping in for Kate Beckinsale (who starred as the lead in the two previous flicks), but she will play a different character."
The author is not an idiot! He clearly knows that they are not the same character! Way to go buddy!
In regards to the movie, It looks amazing! I can't wait to see it!