Luke Evans: From The Raven To Draven Aka "The Crow"

Deadline reports that Luke Evans ("The Raven," "Immortals") has won the lead role of Eric Draven in the-long in development reboot of The Crow.

Evans was the original choice for the role but scheduling issues kept him from being able to take the job. Thus The Avengers and Thor baddie Tom Hiddleston expressed interest in the part by even going so far as to send video of a makeup test that he did on his own in London to the production. Alexander Skarsgård was also recently rumoured in contention for the role.

Production has been rescheduled to start in early 2014 to accommodate Evans busy work load--which includes the title role in the "Dracula" reboot at Universal Pictures.

Writer Jesse Wigutow was hired to pen the latest script--starting from scratch from which F. Javier Gutierrez ("Before the Fall") will helm.

Ed Pressman, Jeff Most, Ryan Kavanaugh, Enrique López Lavigne and Belén Atienza will produce the film

This franchise has had quite a history to this point:

James O'Barr's Gothic comic book series and the 1994 film from Alex Proyas-which became more known for the on set death of its star Brandon Lee, follows rock musician Eric Draven who is murdered while trying to save his fiancee from thugs. He is resurrected by supernatural forces and seeks revenge. That film spawned three sequels, The Crow: City of Angels, The Crow: Salvation, and The Crow: Wicked Prayer, as well as a short-lived TV series The Crow: Stairway to Heaven starring Mark Dacascos.

Director Stephen Norrington was slated to helm the reboot at first from a script by Nick Cave At that point Mark Wahlberg was rumoured to be interested in taking the lead role. Both Norrington and Cave left, replaced by Juan Carlos Fresnadillo and Alex Tse respectively

Actor Bradley Cooper actually signed on to play the title character. Then Cooper left due to scheduling conflicts with the now defunct "Paradise Lost" and Oscar contender The Silver Linings Playbook Wahlberg was linked a 2nd time but had 2 Guns and Broken City in his sights; Channing Tatum (who seems all wrong for the role IMHO) was also mentioned at one point recently and then came the legal tussel. In February of this year James McAvoy ("Atonement," "X-Men: First Class") was rumored to be circling the lead--a notion that the actor denied.