With production gearing up to start this spring in Atlanta, the upcoming sequel Escape Plan 2 has added a few new cast members. Guardians of the Galaxy 2 star Dave Bautista has signed on to star alongside Sylvester Stallone in this follow-up to the 2013 action-thriller Escape Plan, which starred Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson will reprise his role as Hush from the original movie. And Jaime King will play Abigail Ross. There is still no word yet if Arnold Schwarzenegger, who co-starred with Stallone in the first outing, will return.

The Hollywood Reporter broke the Dave Bautista casting news, with the site comparing Dave Bautista's role to Arnold Schwarzenegger's Rottmayer character from the original. Escape Plan followed Sylvester Stallone's Ray Breslin, a security expert who is set up and sent to the world's most impenetrable prison. He teams up with Arnold Schwarzenegger's Rottmayer to break out and clear his name once and for all. Escape Plan wasn't a huge hit domestically, but its overseas take in China is a big reason this sequel is going forward, and is now an official U.S./China co-production.

Escape Plan only earned $25.1 million domestically, but it earned an additional $112.1 million worldwide, $40.9 million of which came directly from China. This action sequel is being produced by Beijing-based Leomus Pictures and Emmett/Furla/Oasis, with Mark Canton also producing. No plot details have been released about the sequel, which will be produced under a $20 million budget. Since this is now a US/China co-production, it remains to be seen if there will be any Chinese elements included in the story, or if any parts of the movie will be filmed in China.

Steven C. Miller is directing Escape Plan 2 from a screenplay by Miles Chapman, who co-wrote the original movie with Jason Keller. This project actually reunites the director with Dave Bautista, who starred in his action-thriller Marauders that hit theaters last summer, which also starred Bruce Willis and Christopher Meloni. Steven C. Miller most recently directed Arsenal, which starred Nicolas Cage and Adrian Grenier, and the director is also in post-production on First Kill, which stars Bruce Willis and Hayden Christensen.

Dave Bautista returns as the beloved character Drax the Destroyer this summer in Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which is slated to hit theaters on May 5. The former WWE Superstar-turned-actor most recently starred as Tong Po in last year's Kickboxer: Vengeance and Warriors Gate last year, along with Marauders. After Guardians 2, Dave Bautista will next be seen in another highly-anticipated sequel, Blade Runner 2049, which hits theaters on October 6. He is currently filming Avengers: Infinity War, before moving on to shoot Hotel Artemis with Jodie Foster. With filming starting soon on Escape Plan 2, hopefully we'll have more casting updates in the very near future.