'Tarzan' First Look & Poster: Alexander Skarsgård Is The New Lord Of The Jungle

David Yates has spent most of the past decade immersed in the Harry Potter universe, and he just recently headed back there to direct the Harry Potter spinoff Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. But in between, he took a little detour to the wilds of Africa for 2016's The Legend of Tarzan.

Based on the classic creation by Edgar Rice Burroughs, Tarzan stars Alexander Skarsgård as the lord of the jungle and Margot Robbie as his beloved Jane. The twist this time, however, is that the story won't be about Tarzan getting civilized — it'll be about an already-civilized Tarzan learning how to get wild again. Get your Tarzan first look after the jump.

USA Today debuted the first images from Tarzan.

Skarsgård dropped hints about the new Tarzan story in an accompanying interview. "It's almost the opposite of the classic tale, where it's about taming the beast," he said. "This is about a man who's holding back and slowly as you peel off the layers, he reverts back to a more animalistic state and lets that side of his personality out." Yates added, with regard to Tarzan and Jane's relationship, "In a way, it's a story of two human beings and how they save each other."

Tarzan picks up with its title character about ten years after he's left the Congo behind. Nowadays he goes by John Clayton III, Lord Greystroke, and he and his wife Jane enjoy an upper-crust lifestyle in 1880s London. But he hasn't forgotten the old days (which appear in flashbacks), and eventually finds himself sent back to the Congo, this time as an emissary of Parliament. When his wife and some of his old friends are put in danger, he must rediscover the beast within.Christoph Waltz plays the villain Captain Leon Rom, inspired by the real-life history of Belgium's King Leopold II. The ruler initially passed himself off as a philanthropist, but then claimed the Congo as his colony and perpetrated a mass genocide. Also starring are Samuel L. Jackson as George Washington Williams, a real-life Civil War vet who stood up against King Leopold, and Djimon Hounsou as Chief Mbonga.Tarzan swings into theaters July 1, 2016.