Just a couple of weeks ago, actress Hailee Steinfeld (True Grit) began negotiations to join the cast of director Gavin Hood‘s adaptation of Ender’s Game. This, just a week after 14-year old British actor Asa Butterfield (Hugo, Merlin) was confirmed for the titular role of Ender Wiggin and word that producers were looking at Harrison Ford (Cowboys & Aliens) for the role of Colonel Hyrum Graff.

Now, THR reports that Ben Kingsley (The Last Voyage of Demeter, Hugo) is in negotiations to join the cast of the long-awaited big screen adaptation of Orson Scott Card‘s Hugo and Nebula Award-winning sci-fi novel as a legendary war hero presumed to be long dead.

About Ender’s Game:

Set in Earth’s future, the novel presents an imperiled humankind who have barely survived two conflicts with the Formics (an insectoid alien race also known as the “Buggers”). In preparation for an anticipated third invasion, an international fleet maintains a school to find and train future fleet commanders. The world’s most talented children, including the novel’s protagonist, Ender Wiggin, are taken at a very young age to a training center known as the Battle School. There, teachers train them in the arts of war through increasingly difficult games including ones undertaken in zero gravity in the Battle Room where Ender’s tactical genius is revealed.

Ender’s Game is slated to hit theaters on March 15th, 2013.