Highland Film Group announced today that Travis Fimmel (Warcraft: The Beginning, “Vikings”) has signed on to star in Andrew Baird’s feature film directorial debut, Zone 414.  From a script penned by Bryan Edward Hill, the sci-fi thriller will be produced by Baird, 23ten’s Martin Brennan, source | management + production’s Jib Polhemus, and Deborah Shaw-Kolar with executive producers Mark Huffam and Bryan Edward Hill.  Highland Film Group is handling worldwide sales, which will launch at the upcoming Toronto International Film Festival. 

Set in the near future, Zone 414 is a colony of state-of-the-art humanoid robots. When its creator’s daughter goes missing, he hires private investigator David Carmichael (Fimmel), to bring her home. David teams up with Jane, a highly advanced and self-aware A.I., to track down the missing daughter. Moving through the dangerous iron jungle, they rapidly piece together the mystery, uncovering a crime that leads them to question the origins of Zone 414 and the true purpose behind the “City of Robots.”  Principal photography is set to begin in November.

Best known for his role as Ragnar Lothbrok in the History Channel’s critically-acclaimed “Vikings,” Fimmel is currently in production on TNT’s “Raised by Wolves” directed by Ridley Scott and in post-production on Charlie Day’s El Tonto where he stars alongside Kate Beckinsale, Jason Sudeikis, Adrien Brody, Jillian Bell, Common, Ken Jeong and John Malkovich. Previous credits include a lead role in Universal Picture’s Warcraft: The Beginning alongside Paula Patton, Ben Foster and Dominic Cooper which amassed over $500million worldwide; A&E’s “The Beast” alongside Patrick Swayze; A24’s Lean on Pete alongside Charlie Plummer, Chloe Sevigny and Steve Buscemi; and Sony Pictures Classics’ Maggie’s Plan with Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hawke and Julianne Moore.