Australian actor Jai Courtney has joined the Divergent movie as Dauntless leader Eric.

Jai Courtney will play Eric, a Dauntless leader and major antagonist for main character, Tris, in the film adaptation of Veronica Roth’s YA novel Divergent. From his position of power, Eric plays a significant role in Tris’s development as a Dauntless hopeful. His harsh philosophy is a key to a major behind-the-scenes plot development, and also underscores the book’s themes on the nature of fear and fearlessness.

Courtney is the sixth actor to sign on to the book to film adaptation of Veronica Roth’s film. Shailene Woodley has taken the lead role of Tris. Maggie Q will play Tori (the tattoo artist), Zoe Kravitz will play Christina (Tris’ eventual friend), and Ansel Elgort will play Caleb (Tris’ brother). Kate Winslet has also joined the film, but her character has not been unveiled.

Divergent opens in theaters March 21, 2014 and is directed by Neil Burger.

Lionsgate has been searching for an actor to take the co-starring role of Four for months but progress has seemingly been slow.

Update: Author Veronica Roth has commented ever so briefly on this news: “Yay! About to get on a plane home, or I’d say more, but wow, this has been an exciting week!”

Divergent is the first of three books in the trilogy of the same title by Roth. The second one, Insurgent, was released last year. Book three will be released this October but it does not yet have a title or cover. Lionsgate is eying the franchise as its next Twilight/The Hunger Games.

Courntey was seen in A Good Day to Die Hard earlier this year and will also be in I, Frankenstein later this year. He played Charlie in 2012’s Jack Reacher.

The news was confirmed by Divergent’s official Facebook page.