Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley to star in Ridley Scott's The Dog Stars

Josh Brolin, Margaret Qualley and Guy Pearce have joined the cast of Ridley Scott's next film, The Dog Stars.

They'll star alongside Kissing Booth lead Jacob Elordi, who was hired in January after Paul Mescal exited the 20th Century film due to scheduling issues, Deadline reports.

Production is expected to commence in Italy at the end of April.

Based on Peter Heller's 2012 novel, The Dog Stars is set in a post-apocalyptic society, after a catastrophic flu virus wipes out nearly all of humanity.

The story follows a pilot named Hig (Elordi) who befriends a cranky gunman (Brolin) as they try to outlast a roaming band of scavengers. Qualley is playing a character named Cima, a young doctor and the daughter of a jaded rancher (Pearce), whom Hig meets on the journey.

Scott, who turns 88 this year, is the Oscar-nominated director of blockbuster hits suchs as Gladiator, Alien, Blade Runner and Thelma & Louise.

The upcoming Dog Stars reunites Scott with Brolin, who starred in American Gangster, and Pearce, who appeared in Prometheus. Pearce is currently up for a best supporting actor Academy Award for The Brutalist.

Qualley, who shot to fame in Quentin Tarantino's Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, more recently starred alongside Demi Moore in the Oscar-nominated body-horror movie The Substance.