[Firewire]

EastEnders actor Ben Hardy is joining the cast of X-Men: Apocalypse.

Hardy's exact role in director Bryan Singer's X-Men: Days of Future Past sequel is unknown, but Variety hints that he will play a well-known character.

This will be the first major Hollywood role for Hardy, who announced last November that he would quit his role as Peter Beale in BBC soap opera EastEnders.

His EastEnders exit scenes were screened in the UK on Tuesday (February 24), as Peter chose to move to New Zealand with his girlfriend Lauren Branning (Jacqueline Jossa) following the Bobby Beale murder reveal.

The next X-Men movie will introduce younger versions of established characters Cyclops, Jean Grey and Storm played by Tye Sheridan, Sophie Turner and Alexandra Shipp.

Oscar Isaac has been cast as the megalomaniac villain Apocalypse, while franchise veterans James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Nicholas Hoult and Jennifer Lawrence will all return.

Singer has already begun hinting at plot points for the movie by unveiling production art on social media.

X-Men: Apocalypse will be released in cinemas in the spring of 2016.

Looks like he made the right decision leaving EastEnders then