Kiefer Sutherland is in final talks to star in Pompeii as a villainous senator.

The 24 actor is reportedly in final talks to portray a roman senator, the villain in Paul WS Anderson's forthcoming 3D action adventure movie.

Pompeii sees Game Of Thrones actor Kit Harington play a slave named Milo, who is shipped off just before Mount Vesuvius erupts in 79 A.D.. He has to fight his way back into the city to save a gladiator friend and rescute the woman he loves, who is played by Emily Browning and is the daughter of Milo's master (Jared Harris).

The woman faces being handed over in marriage to Sutherland's character, who is also the man behind the enslavement of the village. Shooting has already begun on the film in Toronto.

Sutherland will next be seen in indie thriller 'The Reluctant Fundamentalist', which is scheduled for release in May.

He will also return to TV screens for a second season of 'Touch' - in which he plays a widower whose son has special powers - and is still hopeful a '24' movie will make the big screen.