The first trailer for The Legend of Tarzan starring Alexander Skarsgard has been released by Warner Bros Pictures.

Hollywood has told the story of Edgar Rice Burroughs’s jungle hero several times, but this new version will depart somewhat from the familiar tale as it takes place after Tarzan has been raised by apes.

Alexander Skarsgard in The Legend of Tarzan
Alexander Skarsgard in The Legend of Tarzan (Warner Bros)

The trailer begins with a voice solemnly declaring, “The jungle consumes everything. It preys on the old, the sick, the wounded. It preys on the weak, but never the strong.”

In The Legend of Tarzan, it’s been years since the man once known as Tarzan left Africa for a gentrified life as John Clayton III, Lord Greystoke, with his beloved wife, Jane (Margot Robbie).

Tarzan has been invited back to the Congo to serve as a trade emissary of Parliament, unaware that he is a pawn in a deadly convergence of greed and revenge, masterminded by Belgian captain Leon Rom (Christoph Waltz).

But those behind the murderous plot have no idea what they are about to unleash.

When the camera flashes to Captain Rom, the cream-suited head of the jungle expedition, he knowingly says: “He’s Tarzan, you’re Jane. He’ll come for you.”

The impressive cast also includes Samuel L Jackson (seen brandishing guns), John Hurt and Djimon Hounsou.

Alexander Skarsgard
Alexander Skarsgard (AP/PA)

The film is directed by David Yates of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 & Part 2 fame.

The Legend of Tarzan is released on July 8, 2016.