Exclusive: Johnny Galecki has signed on to play one of the leads in Paramount’s Rings, the third installment of the horror franchise about a cursed videotape that kills a viewer within seven days. Galecki will play Gabriel, a handsome, pleasure seeking professor who mentors and helps boyfriend and girlfriend duo, Holt (Alex Roe) and Julia (Matilda Lutz). Sources tell Deadline that Galecki’s character is a complete departure from his sensitive nerd guy Leonard on CBS sitcom The Big Bang Theory. Filming is already underway on Rings. Galecki is repped by WME and Management 360.

The first two Rings chalked up $411M at the global B.O. The third chapter is directed by F. Javier Gutiérrez from a script by David Loucka, Jacob Aaron Estes, and Akiva Goldsman. Rings will bow on Friday, November 13. The first Ring in 2002 was based on the Japanese film Ringu which was adapted from the novel by Koji Suzuki.

Last month Galecki opened the doors to his Warner Bros.-based production label, Alcide Bava Productions, which will develop TV series and features films. It was also announced that former De Line Pictures President Andrew Haas has joined Galecki as his producing partner and vice president of Alcide Bava. The label is currently producing the Bobby Miller-directed The Master Cleanse, which stars Galecki, Anna Friel, Angelica Houston and Oliver Platt.

“The Ring” sequel “Rings” is getting a new release date.

Paramount Pictures is pushing back the third film in the horror series from its Nov. 13 debut. It will now launch in 2016, most likely in the first quarter of the year, although a specific release date has yet to be set.

The move comes after Paramount moved the start of “The Big Short,” Adam McKay’s adaptation of the Michael Lewis bestseller, into this calendar year and opted to bow Charlie Kaufman’s “Anomalisa” in an Oscar qualifying run at the end of December.

In its old date, “Rings” would have faced off against the Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt drama “By the Sea,” the Chilean miners drama “The 33” and the comedy “Love the Coopers.”

“Rings” is directed by F. Javier Gutiérrez (“Before the Fall”) and stars newcomers Matilda Lutz and Alex Roe, as well as “The Big Bang Theory’s” Johnny Galecki. Previously titled “The Ring 3D,” its the first installment in the series about a cursed video tape to hit screens in nearly a decade. It takes place 13 years after the events of the first film.

The film is produced by Laurie MacDonald and Walter Parkes, and written by David Loucka, Jacob Aaron Estes and Akiva Goldsman.

Box Office Mojo reports Paramount has shifted Rings from April 1, 2016 to October 28, 2016 — nearly a full year after its original November 13, 2015 release date. The delay shouldn’t come as too much of a shock, considering Rings‘ old April 1 release date is less than two months away and we’ve yet to see so much as a teaser trailer. A Halloween release is probably a better fit for the horror movie anyway. Rings will now go up against Inferno (the Da Vinci Code sequel; yes, they’re still making those) and “Untitled Lionsgate Horror Film.”

Directed by F. Javier Gutiérrez, Rings stars Matilda Lutz and Alex Roe as a young couple who get caught up in Samara’s video tape curse. Johnny Galecki and Aimee Teegarden also star. Contrary to earlier rumors, Rings is not a prequel but a sequel set 13 years after the events of The Ring. Which raises the question of how these young people are even watching VHS tapes in this day and age. Who still owns a VCR? Or has Samara gone digital.

Paramount has pushed back horror threequel “Rings” three months from Oct. 28 to Feb. 3.

It’s the fourth date for the third movie in “The Ring” series. It was originally set for Nov. 13, 2015. It was then moved to April 1, 2016, and then to Oct. 28.