Lately there has been no shortage of news coming out of Fox's 'X-Men:Days of Future Past.' The Bryan Singer-directed followup to Matthew Vaughn's 'X-Men: First Class' has made plenty of casting moves since Singer's return. However, nearly all the news to this point has centered on familiar franchise faces reprising their respective roles; exciting, if perhaps far from surprising. Today's announcement on the other hand is both exciting and surprising. Singer dropped the bomb via his Twitter account that Peter Dinklage ('Game of Thrones') has joined the cast. At this juncture, it is entirely unclear who Dinklage might play. In addition to the news of Dinklage's hiring, Singer also revealed in a recent interview that he will be shooting 'X-Men:Days of Future Past' in 3D. The movie is set to be released July 18th, 2014.

Wow! This is tremendous news! As a fervent fan of HBO's 'Game of Thrones,' I couldn't be happier that Dinklage has been brought aboard. I remember over the summer when one of the 'Captain America' screenwriters mentioned he wanted MODOK to be the villain in the next installment of that franchise, and that he wanted Dinklage to play him. This was of course before the 'Winter Soldier' storyline was settled upon, but it did get me pumped for the idea of Tyrion Lannister himself making some kind of mark upon the Marvel filmic universe. I can't think of what character Dinklage might play, but then I have only a rudimentary grasp of the 'Days of Future Past' story arc. Then again, he could be occupying the role of someone from the X-Men universe in general; someone potentially pulled into this story just for the film's sake. All I know for sure is that Dinklage is a fantastic actor with a seemingly endless supply of screen presence, and it's not hard to understand why Singer is so enthusiastic about his arrival. Now as to the 3D, while it might be cool to see giant three-dimensional Sentinels on the big screen, I will nevertheless console myself that most theaters will also offer a 2D option and leave it at that.

What do you guys think? Are you happy Peter Dinklage has joined the cast of 'Days of Future Past?' Who do you think he might play? How do you feel about the film being shot in 3D?

Source: Twitter; Cinemablend