The legendary actor has been cast by NBC for their live staging of the classic musical.
NBC is getting ambitious with its upcoming live performance of Peter Pan, having just cast the Oscar-winning legend Christopher Walken for the role of the central antagonist Captain Hook.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, NBC chairman Bob Greenblatt said of Walken, "He's one of the most unique actors in our business… He might really just be a song and dance man at heart... This might be the first tap dancing Captain Hook you've ever seen."
The live performance, based on the book and the musical by J.M. Barrie, will be a follow-up to NBC's recent live performance of The Sound Of Music, which was economically very successful despite lackluster critical response.
This will also not be the first time Peter Pan has been put up live by NBC. In 1955 they staged a live production that drew staggeringly huge ratings – around 65 million viewers- and was re-aired in '56 and '60.
Walken is one of Hollywood's most venerated actors, having appeared in over one hundred films and being nominated for two Oscars, winning once in 1979 for The Deer Hunter.