We’re waiting on some big announcements from Marvel Studios concerning both their film and television lineups from presentations at San Deigo Comic-Con next week and D23 in August. However, Marvel’s Kevin Feige is already dishing a few tidbits during the press tour for “Deadpool & Wolverine” and confirmed that their “Nova” project is a streaming series that will air on Disney+ alongside when we could expect to see it.
Feige recently told Comic Book, “It’s happening, it’s coming together. Richard Rider, yep…A show, yeah, yeah.” He also mentioned when fans can expect the “Nova” series to be launched on Disney+, ” It’s three or four years out.”
That timeline would suggest “Nova” could be ready to go by 2027 or 2028, which gives them plenty of time to develop and find a leading actor to play Richard Rider. If you’re not familiar, after the destruction of the Nova Corps, a new Nova Prime is selected as Earthling Richard Rider takes up the mantle and would see Rider becoming yet another protector of the galaxy.
In the era of the “Star Wars” franchise mostly being done on Disney+, there is certainly a way to do a good-looking cosmic MCU series on a streaming budget. However, many of the Marvel shows don’t seem to be firing on the same level regarding sets and VFX. Hopefully, that’ll change with “Nova” since we’re talking about a character wading in the waters of “Guardians of The Galaxy” (Nova Corps. first introduced in the first installment) and “Captain Marvel” movies.
Some folks that might be a good fit for Richard Rider include Manny Jacinto (“The Acolyte”) and Timothy Olyphant (“The Mandalorian,” “Alien: Earth,” “Justified”) given their recent appearances on Disney+ via “Star Wars” playing helmeted characters they likely wouldn’t be all that opposed to returning for “Nova.”
While plot details have yet to be announced by Marvel, we do have a few crumbs to work from previous movies. Off-screen, Thanos has destroyed the Nova Corps on Xandar to get his purple mitts on one of the Infinity Stones they had been protecting after the events of the first “Guardians.” It remains to be seen if they’ll show those events in a flashback or if they’ll return to Xandar as Rider attempts to rebuild the group of space cops. At that point in the MCU timeline, The Kree Empire and Xandar have a peace treaty, and it wouldn’t be that hard to imagine that the “Nova” series includes some Kree villains that haven’t been tapped for the “Captain Marvel” films.
Keeping that 2027 (at the earliest) airdate in mind, cameras likely won’t be rolling until 2026.
In the wake of the massive success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s last two “Avengers” movies, the studio has been trying to assemble an epic one-two-punch for the follow-up, with two more event films focused on the epic Marvel Comics team. Marvel Studios and Kevin Feige look to be finally zeroing in on a replacement for Destin Daniel Cretton (now focused on “Shang-Chi 2”) on “Avengers 5,” as The Hollywood Reporter reveals that The Russo Brothers are in “early talks” to not only take over from Destin but also take on “Avengers: Secret Wars” as well.
UPDATE: Kevin Feige talked to Inverse and poured a little cold water on the report, hinting that the report might be inaccurate or that they jumped the gun a bit. The interviewer and Inverse are framing this response as a “denial.”
“No, I can’t comment on it except to say it was somebody else a couple of weeks ago, and I look forward to seeing who it is going to be next week,” Feige says. “We’ll see.”
I asked Kevin Feige if the Russos are really directing Avengers 5 and 6. He denied it. Article: https://t.co/p5do3CVzsN
Of course, the sibling duo aren’t strangers to the inner workings of the MCU as they directed “Captain America: The Winter Soldier,” “Captain America: Civil War,” “Avengers: Infinity War,” and “Avengers: Endgame.” They’ve had massive success at the global box office, a potential reason for their offer to return, by earning a massive $6.681 billion over their four MCU releases. Specifically, “Avengers: Endgame” stands as the second biggest movie of all time globally with an impressive $2.79 billion.
The latter two films were also shot back-to-back with a hefty amount of characters to juggle, which is also going to be an element of the next two “Avengers” installments. Something the Russo Brothers are really good at is managing a larger-than-normal superhero roster and will be an asset needed for these next two adventures. This development is certainly a bit of shock when you consider that previously, when the both “Avengers: The Kang Dynasty” (title subject to change) and “Avengers: Secret Wars” was first announced by Marvel Studios they were extremely quick to add that neither project would have the Russo Brothers directing. The brothers had expressed some interest in tackling “Secret Wars” and the MCU’s “X-Men” reboot while on press tours for “Endgame” and other things.
Despite their thunderous box office and critical achievements with Marvel Studios, the directors have struggled more recently with critics on both the Tom Holland crime thriller “Cherry” and their $200 million-plus budgeted Netflix spy flick “The Gray Man.” They have another Netflix movie on the way, “The Electric State,” starring Millie Bobby Brown (“Stranger Things”) in the sci-fi pic.
While plot details aren’t being revealed at this time, established MCU screenwriter Michael Waldron (“Rick & Morty”), who has been the main screenwriter tackling the Multiverse-focused projects like “Loki” and “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness,” had been brought in to help with the script for “Avengers 5.” Kang The Conqueror was originally going to be the villain of “Avengers 5” before Jonathan Majors was fired by the studio, and it’s unclear if the studio is pursuing a recast for Kang or simply going to jump forward to “Secret Wars” (the big Multiverse war film) by splitting the project into two parts.
Fans will be quick to assume longtime creative partners Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely could be making their return to the MCU (Yet this hasn’t been made official in any way, just speculation).
It’s hard to assume what the outcome of their involvement would mean for the future of the MCU. While cinematic universe reset rumors are persistent, the studio hasn’t telegraphed they have plans to reboot their superhero franchise anytime soon. The idea that the band is getting back to together I’m sure is extremely exciting for fans and the involvement of Feige on these two films might help to ease the worries of folks not completely thrilled with their last couple of directing efforts. One of their more glorious contributions was giving Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark a fitting death scene by sacrificing himself for the universe. Hopefully, Marvel and the creative have their wits among them and don’t attempt to resurrect Stark simply to lean into the Multiverse gimmick.
There have also been some expectations that mutants, and particularly the new MCU version of the X-Men could be part of these new movies (“Deadpool & Wolverine” has been already teasing this) alongside the new cast of “Fantastic Four.” Although nothing has been made official on that front other than the new movie landed screenwriter Michael Lesslie (a director could easily be announced soon).
This big news comes off the heels of various trade rumblings that “Deadpool & Wolverine” (another Multiverse-centric film) filmmaker Shawn Levy was offered the job on “Avengers 5.” But as a subsequent report from Deadline states, Levy will be focusing on his new untitled “Star Wars” movie that will see the Canadian director reunited with screenwriter Jonathan Tropper (“The Adam Project”).
We’ll keep our fingers crossed that someone has the good sense to include Multiverse antagonists, The Squadron Supreme, in these upcoming “Avengers” films. Hard to ignore that Marvel’s take on the Justice League would make for some intense action sequences and could keep the superheroes on their toes, not to mention potentially leading to a few on-screen deaths (Thor and Hulk being strong contenders).
Later in the month, we’ll likely hear directly from Marvel/Feige about this whole ordeal as Marvel is making their grand return to the San Diego Comic-Con with a presentation on Saturday, July 27, which should confirm this announcement alongside other big updates on future feature films like “Fantastic Four,” “Captain America: Brave New World,” “Thunderbolts,” “Blade,” “Spider-Man 4,” and more.
The next phase of the “Predator” franchise was previously announced as they’ll be making a follow-up to director Dan Trachtenberg‘s “Prey” with “Badlands.” However, its been said the new movie is going to be set further into the future and won’t be a direct sequel to “Prey” (But one is also in the works).
A big casting update has been shared by Deadline, as they have announced that Elle Fanning (“The Great”) is in talks to take the lead role in the new sci-fi actioner.
The studio is in negotiations with a popular actress like Fanning could suggest that 20th Century Studios may attempt to release the film in theaters after “Prey” headed to Hulu/Disney+.
20th Century Studios is also about to release Fede Alvarez’s “Alien Romulus” which is said to be a standalone story set between the events of Ridley Scott’s original “Alien” (produces the film) and James Cameron’s “Aliens” as the filmmaker hopes to find a balance where “Romulus” invokes a balanced tone of both those movies. “Romulus” was originally meant to be a Hulu exclusive until the studio changed its mind after how well-received “Prey” was (the studio missing out on box office dollars on that one).
There is the potential that “Alien Romulus” and “Badlands” future settings could eventually lead audiences to a new, more faithful take on “Aliens vs Predator,” where a boring/dull Earthbound setting is avoided to go completely off-world as seen in the video games and comics books which the crossover originally took place. Some of the more common occurrences where humans, androids/synthetics, predators/yautja, and xenomorphs interact with each other happen on off-world colonies/mining operations connected to Weyland-Yutani.
With Marvel’s development on “X-Men” finally in full swing, we have some thoughts about the direction of the new project and how it could strive to establish itself as different from what happened in the 20th Century Fox era of feature films alongside fixing some longstanding grievances and limitations.
Last week saw the confirmation (via Deadline) that British screenwriter Michael Lesslie (“Now You See Me 3”) is indeed “in talks” with Marvel Studios to pen their upcoming “X-Men” reboot (previous reports suggest there were multiple contenders in the mix). Lesslie’s credits include “Macbeth,” “Assassin’s Creed,” the recent “Hunger Games” prequel, and wrote four episodes of the John Le Carre spy series “The Little Drummer Girl” that starred MCU actress Florence Pugh (“Thunderbolts,” “Black Widow”) and directed by Korean filmmaker Park Chan-wook (“Old Boy”).
A director has yet to be named for “X-Men,” however, we’ve been pushing the idea of recruiting from within and mentioned years ago about considering Ryan Coolger (“Black Panther”) for the gig after extending his deal with the studio as he’s involved with “Eyes of Wakanda” and has been long assumed to wrap up a trilogy with “Black Panther 3.”
MULTIVERSE MUTANT VARIANTS: While we are still a bit in the dark about the studio’s main plan for the X-Men, we’ve seen variants appear in various recent films with Charles Xavier/Professor X (Patrick Stewart) in “Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness” dying in Earth-838, in “The Marvels” we see a CGI variant of Dr. Hank McCoy/Beast (voiced by Kelsey Grammer) where he mentions another variant of Xavier, and “Deadpool & Wolverine” brings in the TVA from “Loki” alongside with the tease of Wade Wilson (Previously existed in his own universe outside of the Singerverse since he had variants of both Colossus and Juggernaut) and a mysterious Logan variant (We don’t know for sure if both are making the jump to Earth-616 the film until we see how it ends).
“Fantastic Four” is expected to take place in a retro-futuristic universe, but it remains to be seen how mutants will be joining the fold as Marvel has yet to telegraph what the plan actually is. However, the internet has plenty of theories, none of which have been confirmed, including the rumbling of an MCU reboot after “Avengers: Secret Wars.”
There is the obvious notion that “Deadpool & Wolverine” is simply saying goodbye to Fox’s era of Marvel films, hence why Jennifer Garner’s Elektra is set to appear in the project when she had zero connection to the “X-Men” movies and even less likely to join the MCU for the foreseeable future.
MCU MUTANTS ALREADY EXIST: King Ch’ah Toh Almehen/Namor (Tenoch Huerta) is referred to as a mutant in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” it’s also worth mentioning that he’s part of an X-Men roster in more recent comics and is heralded as Marvel Comics’ first mutant. He’s not the only one either, Kamala Khan/Ms. Marvel (Iman Vellani) also had been teased in her Disney+ series as being a mutant while incorporating the “X-Men” animated theme, and Damage Control seemed to be developing an early version of the Sentinel Program (via Stark/Mysterio drones) as a government response to combat meta-human threats.
Having Namor or Kamala becoming a cohort of the X-Men wouldn’t be a bizarre notion.
FIX GLARING PROBLEMS OF THE SINGERVERSE: It’s hard to not be aware that Kevin Feige is precious about his time working on the original run of “X-Men” films, but they clearly weren’t great adaptations of the characters or their comic book adventures while they were still mostly entertaining installments.
Mutants like Cyclops, Rogue, Storm, Callisto, and a few others barely resembled their comic book counterparts during the Fox days. Hopefully, fans will finally get authentic versions, and we’ve already seen that Marvel is open to finally putting them in their iconic costumes. Hugh Jackman, of course, wearing a version of the Jim Lee-era suit (still waiting to see footage of the cowl) in the upcoming “Deadpool” sequel.
Some of the problems weren’t just improper takes on various mutants. Shoehorning them in the movies without much of an introduction, exploration of their origins, or much character development without an impact on the story. A good amount ended up being included just to kill off, used in the background, or simply added as an Easter Egg/cameo for the die-hards.
When director Bryan Singer returned to tackle two more movies, “X-Men: Days of Future Past” and “X-Men: Apocalypse,” a big issue started to materialize and conflict with the canon of the previous movies. ALL MUTANTS now, suddenly, without explanation, had a slow-aging power set when that was once relegated to a handful of specific mutants. It was a lazy method by producers to keep the “X-Men: First Class” cast together while the movies jumped decades spanning four different decades (starting in the 1960s and ending in the 1990s with “Dark Phoenix”) while the actors never really actually aged, which was frustrating for fans. Since the MCU is already filled with characters that don’t age normally, if the reboot decided to only make this a characteristic for a few like Wolverine, Magneto, Mystique, Mister Sinister, Apocalypse, and Sabretooth, we’d be all for it.
In the end, consistency or continuing established franchise canon wasn’t a prime concern, adding to the habitual confusion audiences experienced over two decades. There is the optimism that the team over at Marvel Studios would be way more dedicated to make sure everything clicks and fits together.
EXPAND THE COSMIC SIDE OF THE MUTANT SAGA: Another thing that the Singerverse really never got right was the X-Men’s connection to space opera elements via The Shi’ar Empire and The Imperial Guard. Allowing them to take pages from “Star Wars” and “Dune” without having to strictly rely on The Guardians of The Galaxy for future cosmic adventures. Cyclops’ father/brother are members of the space pirate team The Starjammers. Marvel even has their own take on the Xenomorph with the deadly invasive alien species, The Brood, and the other big space invaders, The Phalanx.
An expansion could also mean exploring a heap of other mutant-related teams on Earth, such as Alpha Flight, X-Force, X-Factor, Excalibur, The Morlocks, and Exiles.
RECASTING FOR A NEW GENERATION: Recasting Wolverine would certainly be Marvel’s main priority as the character, thanks in part to Hugh Jackman’s run as the Canadian mutant, is easily as popular/well-known as Spider-Man or anyone on the Avengers roster. Despite all the teases from “Deadpool & Wolverine” of Jackman’s variant making the jump to the mainline MCU in Earth-616, there is a strong common sense expectation he’s not going to be playing the role for Marvel over the next 10-plus years.
There have been plenty of fan-castings online featuring a laundry list of genre-friendly actors such as Daniel Radcliffe (“Harry Potter”), Taron Egerton (“The Kingsman”), Karl Urban (“Dredd,” “The Boys”), Zac Efron (“The Iron Claw”), and even one that had Jackman’s public endorsement, Tom Hardy (after director Matthew Vaughn attempted to cast him as Young Wolverine during his time making “X-Men” films). My own opinion is that folks on the rise like Jeremy Allen White (“The Bear,” “The Iron Claw”) and Austin Butler (“The Bikeriders,” “Dune: Part Two”) might be more in-tune with the kind of actor that Marvel should be seeking out.
I’m not too worried about Marvel recasting the X-Men lineup, mainly, from seeing how they’ve handled “Fantastic Four.”
Many fans enjoying “X-Men ’97” feel that Marvel should simply move forward with a live-action incarnation of the animated show and place that version within the mainline MCU. But the problem with that idea is that they’ve killed off characters and explored storylines that could still be reworked for the big screen. Even with the show’s popularity, I don’t see a huge reason to start this new era of the X-Men by having to adhere to a 30-year-old pre-existing canon when this should be a true REBOOT. It’s exactly why I think a reset from the Singerverse is a must, too. Then again, there are some neat character choices that could be carried over.
We’re sure to get some more updates on “X-Men” in the coming months as Marvel Studios looking to make a presentation this summer at the D23 event.
Amazon Prime Video and Alcon are behind a new spinoff streaming series set within the world of “Blade Runner” (50 years after the events of “Blade Runner 2049”) that has Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh (“Everything Everywhere All At Once”) attached to star in an undisclosed role and has “Shōgun” director Jonathan van Tulleken involved on “Blade Runner 2099” as well.
The Ronin can confirm that Rob Hardy (“Mission: Impossible – Fallout”) has joined the crew of “Blade Runner 2099” as a director of photography. Hardy is likely best known as the cinematographer of a bunch of Alex Garland movies such as “Ex Machina,” “Annihilation,” the FX series “DEVS,” the folklore horror pic “Men,” and his most recent film, “Civil War.”
Based on the Philip K. Dick novel “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?,” the original 1982 film focused on a group of replicants who have escaped the off-world colonies to Earth, where their presence is considered illegal. Authorities have sanctioned their termination by hiring a retired Blade Runner, Deckard, to quickly silence the situation by killing them on sight once they’ve been confirmed as replicants and not the humans they’re pretending to be. After being introduced to a non-violent replicant who isn’t aware they are one, Deckard decides to whisk off with her toward the end, leading the hunter to become the hunted.
We haven’t seen the nine off-world colonies in the main two movies (they have been teased/shown in tie-in shorts), and it would be quite the jump for the franchise for events to transpire in a non-Earthbound setting.
Today, Lionsgate made it official (via Variety) that their next “John Wick” franchise spinoff film will focus on Donnie Yen‘s standout character from “John Wick 4,” Caine. This project’s announcement isn’t exactly a shocking turn of events as it was first teased at the end of the last “John Wick” installment when it looked like Akira was about to get her revenge on the blind assassin after killing her father at the Osaka Continental.
Robert Askins (“The Umbrella Academy”) is writing the developing action pic with plans for filming to begin sometime next year in Yen’s homestead of Hong Kong. Presumably, the idea is to shoot in Hong Kong, not only as a new location in the Wick-a-verse to explore but also would likely be a more comfortable production stay for the film’s star as well, compared to Germany or NYC.
We’ll have to wait for a director to be named, as one isn’t mentioned at this time.
When we’re first introduced to Caine, he’s a bit of a reluctant pursuer of Wick. However, he, like many other characters in the franchise, is beholden to The High Table to keep his daughter safe from harm. It’ll be interesting to see if the Triads will play a role in this spinoff, given the Hong Kong location would be a perfect excuse to explore that criminal syndicate, who are expected to have a seat at The High Table.
Caine is pretty much another shade of John Wick, although being blind adds an extra element to his action sequences. He’s also an obvious homage to the likes of the beloved cinematic Japanese swordsman, Zatoichi, a samurai franchise character who is incredibly skilled and is most often underestimated by strangers he encounters.
The yet-to-be-titled film isn’t the only spinoff movie on the horizon as “Ballerina” starring Ana de Armas and Norman Reedus, is expected to debut next summer after some extended reshoots in Budapest with the franchise’s new overseer, Chad Stahelski, deeply involved.
“Russian Doll” and “Poker Face” star Natasha Lyonne has reportedly joined the growing cast of Marvel Studios’ reboot of the “Fantastic Four” that is expected to begin shooting this summer at Pinewood Studios UK. The comedic actress is one of a handful of recent additions to the latest MCU project alongside Ralph Ineson, Julia Garner, John Malkovich, and Paul Walter Hauser, with the former playing the planet-eating supervillain, Galactus.
While Deadline announced the news first, their report fails to mention who exactly Lyonne is playing in “Fantastic Four” and how large the role actually will be.
Previously confirmed by Marvel back on Valentine’s Day, the main cast consists of Pedro Pascal as Dr. Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/The Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/The Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/The Thing.
“Fantastic Four” is tentatively set for release in theaters on July 25, 2025, and I’m sure we’ll keep getting neato casting updates throughout the next couple of weeks as we get closer to the film’s production start.
After months of rumblings that Edgar Wright (“Last Night In Soho,” “Baby Driver”) is indeed returning to the world of comic book movies after giving us the Toronto-set “Scott Pilgrim vs. The World” and developing “Ant-Man” for Marvel Studios (before exiting as director over creative differences), as Deadline and other trades are now backing up claims that he’s attached to helm Sony Pictures‘ remake of the classic 1960s sci-fi movie “Barbarella.”
That’s not only it; veteran genre screenwriter Jane Goldman will co-write with her daughter, Honey Ross.
The original pic from 1968 that starred a young Jane Fonda was an adaptation of the French comics from Jean-Claude Forest and attempted to infuse the sexual liberation movement as Barbarella, a secret agent who had multiple romantic partners on a bizarre alien planet while trying to find an evil scientist named Duran Duran and stop his dastardly plans. Actress Sydney Sweeney (“Euphoria”) had been previously tapped by the studio to play the titular heroine.
The setting is the planet Lythion in the year 40,000, when Barbarella (Fonda) makes a forced landing while travelling through space. She acts like a female James Bond, vanquishing evil in the forms of robots and monsters. She also rewards, in an uninhibited manner, the handsome men who assist her in the adventure.
Goldman is best known for her many collaborations with director Matthew Vaughn and isn’t new to comic book adaptations, having worked on “X-Men: First Class,” “Kick-Ass,” and “Kingsmen: The Secret Service.” She also helped develop the “Game of Thrones” spinoff pilot “Bloodmoon” with the aim to become the showrunner and was expected to explore the origin of the White Walkers, but wasn’t picked-up by HBO.
This isn’t the only remake that Wright is attached to, as the British filmmaker is also behind Paramount’s “The Running Man,” which has Sweeney’s recent “Anyone But You” co-star Glen Powell (“Twisters”) in the lead role for the dystopian sci-fi action flick based on the Stephen King novel. However, it looks like “The Running Man” is expected to happen first, given Wright is said to be already in the prep stages on the film.
Both Nicolas Winding Refn (“Drive”) and Robert Rodriguez (“Alita: Battle Angel”) previously tried to make their own versions of “Barbarella” that clearly never got further than the development stages, as Sony, I’m sure, is hoping this one sticks and actually goes in front of cameras.
Will we ever actually get “Thor 5” from Marvel Studios? That seems like a huge question mark after the lackluster effort from “Thor: Love & Thunder,” and while lead actor Chris Hemsworth seems gung-ho about donning the cape once more, what the studio actually wants to do is another matter entirely. Yet, there is a glimmer of optimism thanks to his “Furiosa” director, George Miller, who recently responded to Comic Book about his interest in working with the fellow Aussie again for a possible fifth “Thor” movie.
“I would work with Chris on anything. I really would. He’s a wonderful actor. He’s got the full range of all the skills,” the director said of the potential of working with Hemsworth again on “Thor 5” at Marvel Studios. “I mean, you’ve got to be athletic, physically. But, you also gotta be athletic emotionally and intellectually to take on these very, ultimately fairly complex, any role really. So, I was very lucky with all my cast, and particularly in the way that Anya and Chris matched each other. Particularly towards the end of the month.”
Hard to imagine that Kevin Feige wouldn’t be completely thrilled if Miller came into the Marvel offices to declare his intentions to direct a film for them. While there are certainly a bunch of hurdles to jump to get to the point of Miller actually getting involved with the MCU and the next “Thor” movie, we can’t completely dismiss the idea.
There was a time when Miller nearly made his own big studio comic book movie with “Justice League Mortal” (long before Zack Snyder’s version), and there have been reports of Warner Bros. at various times pursuing him again to tackle DC characters like Superman and Green Lantern. Perhaps something like a fifth “Thor” movie might be a little more appealing to the filmmaker, given his last three movies have very much had a fantasy/fairytale angle to them, not to mention already working with “Thor” cast members like Hemsworth on “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga,” and Heimdall (currently kicking it in Valhalla with Jane Foster) actor Idris Elba was his co-lead in his genie pic “Three Thousand Years of Longing.”
It’s not lost on us the handful of references in these last two “Fury Road” connected films that have mentioned Valkyries and Valhalla as part of the Citadel’s wasteland warrior culture, seemingly adding elements of the Norse myths.
However, it’s worth noting despite all the online rumors concerning early “Thor 5” development and Hemsworth’s willingness to make one more movie to get things right alongside a potential death scene, Marvel Studios hasn’t shared any official plans for a fifth movie or that they’re even keen to make it after the mixed reactions to “Thor: Love & Thunder.”
Writer/director Jon Favreau is gearing up to shoot the very first live-action “Star Wars” movie to be released in theaters since “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker,” back in 2019. His feature film spinoff of the Disney+ series, “The Mandalorian & Grogu,” is assembling a cast that could feature veteran actress Sigourney Weaver in a mysterious role as The Hollywood Reporter is backing up claims she’s in the mix for the project.
Weaver isn’t unfamiliar with sci-fi or franchise roles, having played Lt. Ellen Ripley in the “Alien” franchise (her “Aliens” co-star Michael Biehn already appeared in the TV series incarnation of “The Mandalorian” in that Ahsoka episode) in four feature films (a fifth installment from Neill Blomkamp was scrapped by Ridley Scott/20th Century Fox), is a key figure from the “Ghostbusters” movies, featured as a villain in the Netflix/Marvel Television series “The Defenders,” and is currently part of James Cameron’s “Avatar” franchise including those other three sequels.
You might remember that “The Mandalorian” originally started out in the first season as an original bounty hunter tale focusing on Pedro Pascal’s Din Djarin. But quickly pivoted toward becoming a full-blown fan-service cameo factory for Dave Filoni’s animated characters from “Clone Wars” and “Rebels” to make their live-action debuts. This led to Bo-Katan and Ahsoka becoming key figures in the television realm, eventually removing the bounty hunter element altogether from “The Mandalorian” in the process.
Returning cast members from the series are sort of dwindling after the passing of Carl Weathers (“Predator”), the sexual misconduct allegations levied against comedian Horatio Sanz that likely pulled him from the “Star Wars” franchise entirely, and the very public firing of Gina Carano by Disney for some bizarre antisemitic posts connected to her own defense of posts understood to be transphobic in nature.
Meanwhile, we’ll keep our fingers crossed that Paul Sun-Hyung Lee is able to reprise his role as Captain Carson Teva in the film. There is an expectation that folks such as Katee Sackhoff’s Bo-Katan and Giancarlo Esposito’s Moff Gideon will be back though.
Disney’s Bob Iger had previously announced that “The Mandlaorian & Grogu” would be heading into theaters on May 22, 2026.
THE RONIN 