Update: Variety also reports on White House Down, saying that Lance Reddick (The Wire) is in talks to appear as Colonel Janowitz, handle to Jenkins‘ Speaker of the House. You can read the original story below.

To build upon the big-screen launch which, you’d think, will be kicked off with this year’s Lawless and Zero Dark Thirty, Deadline names Jason Clarke as the next addition to White House Down. It’s a major one, too, as he’ll play leader to the terrorists who seize America’s headquarters (not really) and put President Jamie Foxx in peril.

The fact that his name is Stenz probably doesn’t mean much, but Clarke‘s proven himself a reliable performer time and time again; the character probably won’t offer a lot to really bite into, but it’s likely his presence brings something extra that Down would otherwise lack.

Channing Tatum, as a newcomer to the Secret Service, will try and take down the terror man himself, while Maggie Gyllenhaal, James Woods, and Richard Jenkins all assist him in this difficult, noble quest. (Though I’d bet any amount of money one of them ends up being a traitor. Mark those words.) Meanwhile, the daughter (Joey King) he’s trying to form another bond with is snatched up by Stenz and his ethnically-ambiguous men, only creating “one more hostage to worry about.”

White House Down will open on November 1st, 2013.

Has your perception of White House Down been raised in light of this news?