Oscar Isaac and Alex Garland are teaming back up for Garland's new movie Annihilation, an adaptation of Jeff VanderMeer's beguiling 2014 sci-fi novel of the same name. Isaac is joining an already-impressive cast: Natalie Portman, Gina Rodriguez, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and Tessa Thompson are all on board. The movie will revolve around a four-person expedition into Area X, a mysterious zone that had adverse effects on 11 earlier exploratory teams; Isaac will play Portman's husband, a member of an earlier expedition. VanderMeer confirmed the casting through his personal Twitter account early this morning.

Annihilation will become Isaac and Garland's second major project together. Isaac played enigmatic genius Nathan in Ex Machina, Garland's impressive 2015 directorial debut, and he won plenty of praise for the role before moving on to slightly higher-budget fare. (It was quite the year.) If it stays true to its source material, Annihilation has the potential to hit all of the same creepy, thought-provoking sweet spots Ex Machina prodded, and Isaac has the chops to help the movie stick even if his role ends up somewhat limited. Put it this way: we still don't have a reason to suggest Annihilation is going to be anything other than "sweet as hell." It's set to open sometime in 2017.