Ryan Guzman Is Rio In 'Jem And The Holograms'

The first four actors for Jon M. Chu's Jem and the Holograms movie have been announced, but there are more to come. The next piece of the puzzle is the actor who'll play Rio. In the original cartoon that is being updated for the film, Rio Pacheco was the band's road manager and tech guy, and also the love interest for Jem. The film now has its leading man, as Ryan Guzman (Step Up Revolution and All In) has been cast in the role. 

THR reports the news, but doesn't have much more. While we've seen an official shot of most of the Jem cast, we don't have a picture of Guzman in the role. While Guzman is a Step Up veteran, the two films in which he appeared were not directed by Chu, who made Step Up 2: The Streets, and Step Up 3D.

As for the rest of the Jem cast, Aubrey Peeples, of TV's Nashville, Jerrica, "an orphaned teenage girl who becomes an online recording sensation named Jem." Disney star Stefanie Scott is Jem's sister Kimber, Aurora Perrineau (Pretty Little Liars) is Shana and Hayley Kiyoko (Lemonade Mouth) is Aja.

The '80s cartoon that provides the basis for the film is "being reimagined for a whole new generation with themes of being true to who you are in a multitasking, hyperlinked social media age." We don't know much about the story, but it has been reported that Jem and her bandmates embark on a music-driven scavenger hunt that "sends them on an adventure across Los Angeles in an attempt to unlock a final message left by her father." 

Chu is directing from a script by Ryan Landels. We'll have more info as it comes, and given that Chu has occasionally provided details of the film via his Twitter account, we can probably expect another photo or two soon as the film continues shooting.