Jesse Plemons is set to co-star opposite Benedict Cumberbatch and Kirsten Dunst in Jane Campion’s “The Power of the Dog.”

Plemons is replacing Paul Dano, who was forced to drop out of the movie due to scheduling conflicts with “The Batman,” for which Dano was recently tapped to play the Riddler. Sources say Netflix and Dano’s team tried to work it out but in the end, the scheduling issues were too difficult to overcome.

Netflix acquired the pic this summer from See-Saw Films’ in-house sales arm, Cross City Films. Variety first reported on the project in May and Cross City Films launched sales at the Cannes Film Festival.

Netflix will release the movie in 2021 on the streaming platform and in theaters. Transmission Films will be releasing it theatrically in Australia and New Zealand. The deal excludes United Kingdom TV rights, which are retained by BBC Films.

Campion directed the movie, adapted from the 1967 Thomas Savage novel of the same name. It follows two wealthy brothers who are polar opposites. Plemons portrays a man who is fastidious and gentle, while his brother, played by Cumberbatch, is brilliant and cruel. They are joint owners of the biggest ranch in the Montana valley. When Plemons’ character secretly marries a local widow (Dunst), Cumberbatch wages a sadistic, relentless war to destroy her by using her son.

See-Saw Films and Big Shell Films/Max Films Production are producing the movie in association with Brightstar and BBC Films. The project has been developed with BBC Films, which is also backing production. See-Saw Films’ Emile Sherman and Iain Canning are also producing alongside Max Films’ Roger Frappier, Big Shell’s Campion and Brightstar’s Tanya Seghatchian. BBC Films’ Rose Garnett, See-Saw’s Simon Gillis and Brightstar’s John Woodward are executive producing.

Plemons was most recently seen reprising his role of Todd in the Netflix film “El Camino: A Breaking Bad Movie,” as well as another Netflix feature, “The Irishman.” He’ll stay busy in 2020, starting with Scott Cooper’s horror movie “Antlers,” Disney’s “The Jungle Cruise” and Charlie Kaufman’s “I’m Thinking of Ending Things.” He is repped by TalentWorks.

Justin Kroll, variety.com

Exciting news. So this is the role Jesse was talking about recently when he said he might possibly be working with Kirsten again.

According to unconfirmed reports ‘The Power of the Dog’ will go into production in New Zealand early next year. The film will star Benedict Cumberbatch, Kirsten Dunst & Paul Dano, & will be directed by Jane Campion. Filming is expected to take place in Queenstown & Auckland in January & February 2020.

In other news Kirsten’s fiancee Jesse Plemons gave this reply when asked if he’d like to work with Kirsten again – “I don’t think I can say anything yet, but we might be soon. It’s just a scheduling thing, but I’d love to. And the writers for ‘On Becoming a God in Central Florida’ keep trying to find some part for me to play. But yeah, she’s my favorite. She’s been doing incredible work for a long time, and I just love her in that show”.