'Ender's Game': Meet the Cast!

The Hugo star will portray Ender Wiggin, the central character in Orson Scott Card’s novel, which is set in the near future. Ender, a brilliant boy and the target of much bullying, is the youngest of three siblings, but the only one of them recruited to attend the International Fleet’s Battle School, which orbits the Earth and trains children in space warfare. Commander Hyrum Graff, a teacher at the School, sees Ender as a potential leader and pushes him through training, but unbeknownst to Ender, the military has a very specific agenda they’re hoping he will complete.

Breslin (Little Miss Sunshine) will play Ender’s older sister, Valentine, the only person whom he truly loves and trusts. Valentine, a kind and empathetic young girl, protects Ender from their cruel brother, Peter, although when Ender goes off to Battle School, she ends up working with Peter as a political pundit who writes influential essays that govern the political ideology of the time.

Peter, the eldest of the Wiggin children, is a sadistic bully who enjoys torturing animals and making his little brother Ender miserable. Peter (played by Let Me In‘s Pinchack) was refused acceptance into Battle School because commanders felt that he was too violent, but that doesn’t stop his quest for power. He writes political essays under the pseudonym ”Locke” that shape international policy as the world is moving toward war and establish him as the most important thinker on Earth — despite the fact that he’s just a child.

The mother of the Wiggin children was not only permitted to break Earth’s strict two-child policy — she was instructed to. After the Battle School found Peter too violent for acceptance, Theresa was asked to bear another child with her husband, John Paul, since the government considers the Wiggins a genius family. Yet her second offspring, Valentine, proved to be a tad too gentle. Thus, the Battle School asked her to have a third child, Ender, to serve as a bridge between the extreme personalities of his two siblings.

The father of the Wiggin children’s unique brand of brilliance, when combined with his wife’s own strategic mind, created some truly exemplary children in Ender, Valentine, and Peter.

Stilson is a school bully (on Earth) who picks a fight with Ender when it seems that the Battle School has rejected the youngest Wiggin child. The fight turns out to be a big mistake, though; it reveals a brutality within Ender that makes him scared of his own abilities, even as it excites the Battle School.

Hyrum Graff runs the Battle School and personally recruits Ender to come aboard his orbiting academy. An expert manipulator, Graff makes sure that Ender is conditioned to become exactly the type of leader he wants him to be. The colonel often isolates Ender, and he doesn’t seek to protect the student from extremely dangerous altercations. Graff, of course, has a plan in mind for the gifted child (whom he actually does care deeply about), but he never lets Ender know this.

Mazer Rackham is a famed battle hero, who helped defeat an alien species called the Buggers in a second war between them and humans. When Ender is advanced from Battle School to Command School, Rackham is brought back through time to personally train Ender as a future military leader.

The Help‘s stunning lead actress will play Major Anderson (a male in Card’s novel), a psychologist who oversees the emotional welfare of the young trainees at the Battle School. In the book, Anderson is portrayed as a much harsher figure: His job is to set up the Battle Room scenarios in order to train the young students, and he is responsible for stacking the odds against Ender during these simulated fights.

Dap is an imposing drill sergeant meant to be both intimidating and encouraging to the young Launchies. He, like many adults, keeps a special eye on Ender.

A fellow member in Ender’s launch group, Alai quickly forms a loyal friendship with Ender. Healthy relationships like theirs are few and far between in the harsh world of Battle School.

True Grit‘s breakout star will play Petra, an older student in Battle School, and a member of Ender’s first training team: the Salamander army. She takes Ender under her wing and teaches him how to fight in the Battle Room. A fearsome fighter, Petra remains one of his few friends throughout his education.

When Bean arrives at school, he is very reminiscent of Ender during his first few months: smart, brave, confident, but totally in over his head. Ender takes a liking to Bean and trains him and helps him not to get swallowed up in the brutal, unsympathetic school.

As Ender’s own platoon leader, Dink always looks out for Ender. He warns Ender of a treacherous plot to kill him by a bitter student named Bonzo.

Former Hannah Montana actor Moises Arias is Bonzo, an intensely jealous student Commander at Battle School. Seethingly angry that Ender possesses so much more natural skill than he does, he forms a gang of kids to attack Ender, though Bonzo plans on killing him. Much like Ender’s former bully Stilson, though, the fight proves imprudent. When Ender is forced to fight for his survival, he doesn’t hold back.

On the shuttle ride to Battle School, Bernard attempts to bully Ender and ends up with a broken arm. His resentment simmers over their time in School together, and he ends up joining Bonzo for the sneak attack against the standout student.

Fly Molo is a platoon leader who fights underneath Ender. He is one of many students who look up to Ender as a leader, and Ender keeps him close by his side when his duties as a Commander start to ramp up.