Luc Besson took a massive swing in 2017. He spent roughly $200 million—mostly of his own and independent money—to bring a French comic book he’d loved since childhood to the big screen. The results were... complicated. People usually talk about the visuals, which were objectively jaw-dropping, but the conversation almost always circles back to the Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets cast. It was a weird, eclectic, and polarizing group of people to put in a space opera. You had indie darlings, a global pop superstar, a jazz legend, and various seasoned character actors all shoved into Alpha, the titular city of a thousand planets.
Was it a case of miscasting? Or was Besson just operating on a frequency the rest of us weren't quite tuned into yet?
Honestly, looking back from 2026, the movie feels less like a failed blockbuster and more like a fever dream of international casting. It didn’t follow the Marvel formula of "charismatic lead who quips every five seconds." Instead, it gave us something stiffer, stranger, and arguably more faithful to the source material, Valérian and Laureline.
Dane DeHaan as Major Valerian: The Anti-Hero Choice
Most people expected a space hero to look like Chris Pratt or Chris Evans. Instead, we got Dane DeHaan.
DeHaan is a fantastic actor. If you’ve seen Chronicle or his work in The Place Beyond the Pines, you know he has this intense, slightly haunted energy. But putting him in the role of a galactic heartbreaker and top-tier soldier was a choice that confused audiences. He doesn't have that booming, traditional "action star" presence. He sounds a bit like a young Keanu Reeves but with a weary, almost cynical edge.
In the film, Valerian is supposed to be this legendary operative who thinks he’s a lot smoother than he actually is. DeHaan plays him with a sort of bratty arrogance. It’s a performance that feels very "European" in its sensibilities. He’s not a golden boy. He’s a guy who’s been in the trenches of space for too long and probably needs a nap. Many critics at the time felt he lacked chemistry with his co-star, but if you re-watch it, the friction actually feels intentional. They aren't a "will-they-won't-they" TV couple; they are two professionals who have been bickering in a cockpit for years.
Cara Delevingne: The Real Soul of the Mission
If DeHaan was the controversial pick, Cara Delevingne as Sergeant Laureline was the surprise hit. At the time, she was still transitioning from the world of high fashion into serious acting. This was her biggest role by far, and she absolutely carried the emotional weight of the story.
Laureline is the smarter one. She’s the one who actually values the "City of a Thousand Planets" and its diverse ecosystems. Delevingne brought a dry, skeptical wit that balanced out the high-concept sci-fi madness happening in the background. While Valerian is chasing medals and ego, Laureline is chasing justice.
🔗 Read more: Shamea Morton and the Real Housewives of Atlanta: What Really Happened to Her Peach
There's a specific scene where she’s wearing a giant jellyfish on her head to track Valerian’s location—it's ridiculous. But she plays it completely straight. That’s the magic of the Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets cast; they had to commit to the absurdity. Delevingne’s ability to look at a CGI alien and deliver a line with genuine conviction is what keeps the movie from falling apart into a tech demo.
Rihanna as Bubble: The Most Talked About Cameo
You can't talk about this movie without talking about Rihanna.
Her role as Bubble, the shape-shifting Glamopod, was the centerpiece of the film’s marketing. It’s essentially a ten-minute cabaret sequence where she transforms through about a dozen different outfits and personas in the blink of an eye. It’s pure spectacle.
But there’s a surprising amount of pathos there. Bubble is a "perfomer" in a district of Alpha that is basically a cosmic red-light district. She’s an undocumented immigrant in space. When she tells Valerian, "I’m just an artist," it’s one of the few moments where the movie slows down to acknowledge the darker underbelly of this utopia. Rihanna isn’t just there for a cameo; her character’s death is the emotional pivot that forces Valerian to grow up.
It was a bold move to cast the biggest pop star in the world and then... well, let’s just say her arc doesn’t end in a sequel-ready way. It was a one-and-done performance that left a massive mark on the film's identity.
The Supporting Heavyweights: Clive Owen and Ethan Hawke
While the leads were young and experimental, Besson filled the background with veterans.
- Clive Owen plays Commander Arün Filitt. He’s the classic military antagonist, but Owen plays him with a cold, bureaucratic detachment that makes him feel more dangerous than a mustache-twirling villain. He represents the "old way" of doing things—genocide covered up by paperwork.
- Ethan Hawke shows up for about five minutes as Jolly the Pimp, and he is clearly having the time of his life. He’s wearing a cowboy hat, colorful vests, and a thick accent. It’s the kind of role an actor takes just to be weird for a few days on a massive set.
- Kris Wu was also a huge part of the ensemble, playing Captain Neza. His inclusion was a savvy move to appeal to the Chinese market, which was a massive part of the film's financial strategy.
And then there’s the voice talent. You had John Goodman voicing a massive, tusked alien named Igon Siruss in the opening sequence. It’s a testament to Besson’s pull in the industry that he could get a legendary actor to voice a CGI mob boss who only appears in one scene.
💡 You might also like: Who is Really in the Enola Holmes 2 Cast? A Look at the Faces Behind the Mystery
The Hidden Stars: The Pearls
The Pearls—the tall, iridescent, peaceful beings from the planet Mül—are the heart of the movie’s political message. They weren't played by famous faces, but by a group of actors and models like Sasha Luss and Aymeline Valade.
Their performances were captured through motion-tech, but their movements were incredibly fluid and ethereal. They didn't feel like "aliens in suits." They felt like a lost civilization. The way they interact with the Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets cast leads is where the movie finds its moral compass. The story isn't about saving the universe from a big explosion; it's about returning a pearl and a small, magical creature to a displaced indigenous people. It’s a small-scale story told on a $200 million canvas.
Why the Ensemble Was Misunderstood
In 2017, the critics weren't kind. The movie "flopped" at the US box office, though it did much better internationally. The main complaint? "No chemistry."
But maybe we were looking for the wrong kind of chemistry.
Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets isn't a romance. It’s a workplace comedy set in a neon-soaked future. When you look at the cast through that lens, it works. Dane DeHaan and Cara Delevingne feel like coworkers who have seen too much. They are tired. They are cynical. They are trying to survive a bureaucratic nightmare while flying through literal dimensions.
The diversity of the cast mirrored the diversity of Alpha itself. You had French directors, English models, American character actors, Barbadian singers, and Chinese idols. It was a "city of a thousand planets" behind the scenes, too.
Technical Nuance: The Performance Capture
We have to acknowledge the technical side of how this cast operated. Unlike a lot of blockbusters where actors stand in front of a green screen and guess where the monster is, Besson had massive physical sets built whenever possible.
📖 Related: Priyanka Chopra Latest Movies: Why Her 2026 Slate Is Riskier Than You Think
For the "Big Market" sequence—which is one of the most complex action scenes ever filmed—the actors had to play two different versions of the scene simultaneously. One in a desert, and one in a high-tech virtual dimension. This required a level of physical precision from DeHaan and Delevingne that goes unnoticed. They had to match their movements perfectly across two different environments. It wasn't just acting; it was choreography.
Practical Takeaways for Re-watching
If you’re going back to watch Valerian today, don't go in expecting Star Wars. That’s the mistake most people made. Instead, look at it as a piece of "maximalist" art.
- Watch the Opening Sequence: The "Space Oddity" montage showing the evolution of Alpha is arguably the best five minutes of sci-fi cinema in the last twenty years. It shows how the cast of "humanity" grows to include everyone.
- Focus on the Background: The "cast" includes hundreds of unique alien designs. Each one has a backstory, even if they only appear for a second.
- Appreciate the Risk: In an era of reboots and sequels, this was a massive risk. The casting wasn't safe. It was weird. And weird is often better than boring.
The Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets cast reflects a specific moment in film history where a director was given a blank check to follow his wildest dreams. It’s a movie that rewards multiple viewings, not for the plot—which is a bit thin—but for the sheer texture of the world and the strange, lovely people (and aliens) who inhabit it.
If you want to dive deeper into why this movie failed to launch a franchise despite its beauty, look into the distribution deals. Besson sold the rights to various countries individually to fund the budget. This meant there was no single "marketing machine" like Disney or Warner Bros. pushing it globally with one voice. It was a patchwork project from the start. That fragmented energy is right there on the screen, in every performance. It’s messy, it’s loud, and it’s undeniably unique.
To truly understand the impact of the film, compare it to The Fifth Element. Bruce Willis was the anchor there. In Valerian, there is no anchor. The city is the star. The actors are just tourists passing through. Once you accept that, the performances start to make a lot more sense. They aren't supposed to dominate the frame; they are supposed to be part of the scenery.
Next Steps for Fans:
- Check out the original comic series Valérian and Laureline by Pierre Christin and Jean-Claude Mézières to see how closely the actors matched the original character designs (hint: Laureline is almost identical).
- Look for the behind-the-scenes footage of the Rihanna "Bubble" dance sequence to see the incredible motion capture work that went into her performance.
- Re-watch the film with a focus on the "Pearls" to appreciate the subtle physical acting that gave that species its soul.