Dan Stevens Joins Emma Watson, Luke Evans in BEAUTY AND THE BEAST as The Beast

Looks like Justin Bieber won't be playing The Beast in Disney's live-action adaption of The Beauty and the Beast. (Yeah, that was never actually on the table, but I was hoping ...) Former Downton Abbey star Dan Stevens in talks for that role, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

Stevens will join Emma Watson and Luke Evans, who are already on board to play Belle and Gaston. The actor's profile is actually smaller than someone I expected Disney and director Bill Condon to pick to fill a role as large as the Beast. Unless you watched the first few seasons of Downton Abbey or saw The Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb, you're probably not familiar with Stevens.

Evans and Watson have already been working on their Belle/Beast repertoire over Twitter.

pic.twitter.com/GKiJKyE5H9
— Dan Stevens (@thatdanstevens) March 5, 2015

Could not be more happy that this man will be Beast!!! Welcome aboard @thatdanstevens #beautyandthebeast pic.twitter.com/F1ghG3pvcU
— Emma Watson (@EmWatson) March 5, 2015

@EmWatson Grrrrrr
— Dan Stevens (@thatdanstevens) March 5, 2015

I'm curious to see if Disney goes the motion-capture or costume and makeup to transform Stevens into the Beast.

Beauty and the Beast doesn't have a release date yet.