Warner Bros. has cast more characters for The Jungle Book: Origins, which marks the directorial debut of motion-capture performance artist and actor Andy Serkis. This follows the addition of Benedict Cumberbatch as the main villain Shere Khan, which was announced yesterday.

Rohan Chand will lead the film as the story's main protagonist Mowgli, a young jungle boy raised in the wild by wolves. Cumberbatch's man-eating tiger is the boy's lifelong enemy, and the two have vowed to kill each other, setting up the dark tone at play in the original Rudyard Kipling novel.

Andy Serkis has given himself the primary role of Baloo the bear, Mowgli's best friend. Also joining the main cast are Christian Bale as sly black panther Bagheera and Cate Blanchett as Kaa, the sinister python with a knack for hypnotism.

The secondary cast includes Tom Hollander as the jackal Tabaqui, who is Shere Khan's right-hand man. Peter Mullan will play Akela, leader of Mowgli's wolf pack. Eddie Marsan and Naomie Harris are playing Vihaan and Nisha, a wolf couple.

The Jungle Book: Origins is now set with it's main cast, and will be going up against Disney's The Jungle Book, directed by Iron Man's Jon Favreau and starring an equally impressive cast that is led by Idris Elba, Scarlett Johansson, Lupita Nyong'o, Ben Kingsley, Christopher Walken, Giancarlo Esposito and the incomparable Bill Murray. Both films will mix CGI and Motion Capture with live action.

Callie Kloves is penning the screenplay, with her father Steve Kloves (Harry Potter) producing alongside Jonathan Cavendish.

Expect The Jungle Book: Origins to have a darker and more realistic tone, with Disney's The Jungle Book to be a more humorous and lighthearted, yet emotionally grounded and human affair.