It's time to dust off those chariots, because Ben-Hur is rolling forward. Deadline reports that director Timur Bekmambetov wants Tom Hiddleston to play the title role in the new MGM adaptation of  Lew Wallace's 1880 novel. However, that's not to say the increasingly busy Hiddleston has signed on to the film; there are several other projects vying for his attention.

MGM announced plans to remake Ben-Hur in early 2013, and hired Bekmambetov later that year. The script was penned by The Way Back's Keith R. Clarke.

This new version reportedly takes more of its cues from the novel than William Wyler's 1959 epic did.

Ben-Hur is scheduled arrive Feb. 26, 2016.