William Fichtner is The Lone Ranger’s villain

Leave it to William Fichtner to ride on in and save the day. The character actor will star as the lead villain in The Lone Ranger, replacing recent drop-out Dwight Yoakam, Deadline report.

For a while there, Disney’s super-expensive Lone Ranger looked like it would never see the light of day.

After director Gore Verbinski and producer Jerry Bruckheimer were able to slash the budget from $275 million to $215 mil, the picture was finally given the green light.

Hopefully the project faces no more obstacles, and Yoakam is not the first of many cast drop-outs.

Armie Hammer and Johnny Depp are still attached to star as The Lone Ranger and his side-kick Tonto.

Discuss: Thoughts on Fichtner?