We’ve seen a handful of the new castings for the Disney+ shows such as Canadian actresses Iman Vellani for Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel and Tatiana Maslany for Jennifer Walters aka She-Hulk. However, both of those picks felt more in the realm of television castings from Marvel Studios and could be actors they can transform into international stars such as they did with Thor’s Chris Hemsworth and are expected to do with Shang-Chi’s Simu Liu.
If Marvel Studios ultimately hires Oscar Issac for Marc Spector (fingers-crossed he signs on officially) they would be landing one of the more high profile leading actors since the likes of Brie Larson for Carol Danvers aka Captain Marvel and the late Chadwick Boseman who played T’Challa aka Black Panther, both known mostly for their film work at the time of being cast in their respective roles. The last big high-profile casting announcement was when Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali was announced for the role of Eric Brooks aka Blade back in July 2019 at San Diego Comic-Con, who happened to have been dabbling in television at the time with Netflix’s Luke Cage and HBO’s True Detective.
We already know that Kevin Feige has confirmed that the Disney+ characters would eventually move into feature films but the Moon Knight casting, to me, suggests Marc Spector is a hot commodity for Marvel Studios and they needed a high-profile actor to play him.
It’s worth noting that Oscar Isaac has been making films regularly for the last 18 years (started in 1996) but has previously only agreed to make three television projects such as the HBO miniseries Show Me A Hero, voice work on the Disney animated series Star Wars: Resistance, and is about to make another HBO limited series titled Scenes From A Marriage co-starring Jessica Chastain. That is only two live-action TV projects that were made for HBO. Agreeing to make a streaming series on Disney+ would be a big deal given his limited television work and the time commitment attached it alongside a Marvel contract.
Oscar is known as an actor internationally thanks to playing Poe Dameron in Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, and recently taking the role of Duke Leto Atreides in Denis Villeneuve’s first Dune installment, all massive films giving him global exposure that a lot of other Marvel leads didn’t have before landing their franchise gigs.
It’s expected that will Dune release globally before Moon Knight begins to air on Disney+ with their new release date of October 1st, 2021.
Landing someone as popular and busy as Isaac would suggest to me that Moon Knight is likely heading to the feature films very very soon. His high-profile screams film casting rather than Marvel looking to develop new talent in a streaming series before. I wouldn’t be shocked if he showed up in other New York City projects or at the very least in Mahershala Ali’s upcoming Blade reboot, as both anti-heroes are wading in the realm of Marvel’s supernatural and horror corner.
It remains to be seen if he shows up in other movies before getting his own but this totally feels like Oscar was picked because he’s a well-known film actor that can help elevate a lesser-known hero like Moon Knight into the mainstream.
Marvel hired Oscar even before a director/directors have been chosen which could be considered another sign that he’s wanted for things beyond the series sooner rather than later. I’m quite curious if Marvel will end up pursing experienced film directors for the Moon Knight series instead of folks primarily known for television/streaming series. That could be another sign of how committed Marvel would be boosting the profile of this character before moving into the films.
I’ll keep my hopes up that Marvel can convince people like Alex Garland to direct episodes given his experience working with Oscar Isaac on Annihilation and Ex Machina. Garland made the comic book film Dredd in 2012 and recently tackled television with DEVS.
With that all said, I’m excited to see how this project comes together.
Deadline is reporting that Oscar Isaac has landed the Marc Spector role in Marvel Studios’ upcoming Moon Knight series for Disney+ and is currently in negotiations with the studio.
Moon Knight aka Marc Spector, is a mercenary who has numerous alter egos — cabbie Jake Lockley and millionaire playboy Steven Grant — in order to better fight the criminal underworld. But later he was established as being a conduit for the Egyptian moon god Khonshu. Most recently, the character was a consultant who dresses in all-white and goes by the name Mr. Knight.
The actor happens to be partly Jewish which was apparently a requirement for actors to play Marc Spector.
Oscar is no stranger to Marvel Comics projects as he played X-Men villain En Sabah Nur aka Apocalypse in X-Men: Apocalypse for 20th Century Fox (pre-merger) and briefly voiced Miguel O’Hara aka Spider-Man 2099 in the Oscar-winning animated film Spider-Man: Into The Spider-Verse.
His other film credits include Dune, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Triple Frontier, Robin Hood, A Most Violent Year, Drive, Ex Machina, Annihilation, The Bourne Legacy, and Operation Finale.
He was also lobbying to play Solid Snake in a Metal Gear Solid movie for Sony Pictures.
Moon Knight is confirmed to spent some time filming in United Kingdom but has yet to land a director/directors when filming will begin is a little unclear but likely won’t begin until sometime in 2021.
If James Gunn has anything to do with it, I don’t think we’ll be seeing Michael Rooker’s Yondu coming back from the dead anytime soon. As the Guardians of The Galaxy franchise writer/director replied to a fan on Twitter that he’s not terribly interested in bringing back Yondu outside of flashbacks as it would ruin the character’s sacrifice.
GUNN: “I get sometimes you can bring back characters in a cool way. But usually, if a character dies, and it’s a meaningful part of the story, the character should stay dead. So unless it’s a flashback, Yondu will stay dead, as far as I’m concerned. Otherwise, it ruins his sacrifice.”
GUNN: “And that’s exactly why, as long as I have the power, Yondu will stay dead. I don’t want to cheapen moments like these.”
With these comments from James, I wouldn’t hold your breath about Yondu’s return for Multiverse projects or randomly coming back from the dead in the next Guardians installment.
Back in April, Michael Rooker shared James’ sentiment on co-star Michael Rosenbaum’s podcast Inside You while being open to playing another Marvel character in the future.
ROOKER: “No way, I’m dead. I’m dead. My character is dead. I would play something else, I wouldn’t mind. I would play something else, but why would I want to play Yondu? Yondu had a wonderful…amazing sendoff that you would ever want in cinematic Marvel history. My god, dude, why do you want to spoil that by bringing the character back now?”
However, while recently promoting his new movie Love & Monsters on Mama’s Geeky, the actor revealed an openness to the idea of a prequel series for Yondu on Disney+.
ROOKER: “I will sign on to anything I’m out of work right now. So, bring it on, baby. I really truly enjoyed playing Yondu it was beautifully written, well drawn out…it was a very well rounded character. Of course.”
You can watch that lovely exchange below.
Gunn is currently working on the post-production of The Suicide Squad (coming August 6th, 2021) and won’t be jumping into Guardians of The Galaxy 3 until he finishes up there.
Production on the Guardians sequel was expected to take place in Atlanta, Georgia under the working title Hot Christmas before Gunn was fired and later rehired after already committed to making The Suicide Squad for Warner Bros. Pictures.
Sadly, Guardians of The Galaxy 3 is without a release date.
A series sequel based on the 1988 Ron Howard and George Lucas fantasy film Willow has been in the works for a while now from Solo: A Star Wars Story screenwriter Jonathan Kasdan. Disney has announced they’ve finally greenlit the sequel series for Disney+.
They also confirmed that production will be returning to Wales where the original film was shot.
Crazy Rich Asians director Jon M. Chu will handle the the first episode and he commented on the news via Twitter. Ron Howard will return to executive produce the series with Jonathan Kasdan and Wendy Mercile set as the showrunners.
Ok Ive been hiding this for a while now…but…IS THIS REAL LIFE???!!! Do I really get to work with this team on this story????? I mean I literally named my daughter Willow…literally. ‘Willow’ Sequel Series Officially a Go, Jon M. Chu to Direct https://t.co/L8fh0nJhe7#Willow
The magical world of George Lucas’ “Willow,” the epic fantasy adventure set in an age of swords, sorcery, myths and monsters, will be returning in a Disney+ series slated to begin production next year.
Jon M. Chu (“In The Heights,” “Crazy Rich Asians”) is set to direct the pilot, and will serve as executive producer along with showrunners Jonathan Kasdan (“Solo”) and Wendy Mericle (“Arrow”). Jonathan Kasdan wrote the pilot.
The series, which is Lucasfilm’s first venture into non-Star Wars storytelling since 2015, takes place years after the events of the original “Willow” film. It introduces all-new characters to the enchanted realm of fairy queens and two-headed Eborsisk monsters, and welcomes back its namesake hero, Willow Ufgood, performed once again by the unmatchable Warwick Davis.
Kathleen Kennedy, Michelle Rejwan, Jon M. Chu, Jonathan Kasdan, Wendy Mericle, Ron Howard and Imagine Television will serve as executive producers, with Roopesh Parekh and Hannah Friedman as co-executive producers. Additionally, Bob Dolman will serve as consulting producer with Julia Cooperman as producer.
The production plans to return to the dramatic and enchanted landscapes of Wales, where much of the original film was shot.
You might remember that Chu was lobbying a while back to direct a Rose Tico series starring Kelly Marie Tran.
The Willow series is said to be a direct sequel to the original film and is expected to focus specifically on Warwick Davis’ titular character Willow Ufgood. It remains to be seen if they’ll attempt to resurrect any of the other characters from the original film.
WILLOW – Enter the world of “Willow.” Journey to the far corners of your imagination, to a land of myth and magic, where dream and reality live side by side … to a place that never existed, a time that never was. It is a world where a young man named Willow lives out an adventure that explodes beyond the boundaries of his own hopes and fears.
It looks like Marvel Studios is neither finished filming or adding to the cast of their upcoming series The Falcon & The Winter Soldier.
The Hollywood Reporter has learned that Top Gun: Maverick actor Danny Ramirez has landed an unnamed but “pivotal role” in The Falcon & The Winter Soldier. Ramirez is best known mostly for television with credits that include Netflix’s On My Block. He isn’t a stranger to the world of Marvel Comics as he had a small role in Fox Television’s X-Men series The Gifted before the merger moved the X-Men rights over to Marvel Studios.
He plays a fighter pilot with the call sign “Fanboy” in Paramount’s Top Gun sequel titled Top Gun: Maverick set to be released on July 2nd, 2021.
TOP GUN: MAVERICK – After more than thirty years of service as one of the Navy’s top aviators, Pete “Maverick” Mitchell (Tom Cruise) is where he belongs, pushing the envelope as a courageous test pilot and dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him. When he finds himself training a detachment of Top Gun graduates for a specialized mission the likes of which no living pilot has ever seen, Maverick encounters Lt. Bradley Bradshaw (Miles Teller), call sign: “Rooster,” the son of Maverick’s late friend and Radar Intercept Officer Lt. Nick Bradshaw, aka “Goose.”
Danny isn’t the only actor from the upcoming Top Gun: Maverick that has landed a streaming series as Monica Barbaro is starring opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger’s upcoming father-daughter spy series for Amazon/Skydance Television.
It certainly feels a little late to be adding an actor to the cast with such a big role but it’s possible he was quietly hired and has been able to keep his casting a secret for multiple months.
The Ronin was the first outlet to report that Disney+ would be delaying the release of The Falcon series from late 2020 to sometime in 2021 back in mid-August. The company seemingly confirmed this after it recently left the MCU series out of their “Coming Soon In 2020” programming ad and their website had it listed for a TBA 2021 spot.
Originally, it was supposed to launch back in August before the Coronavirus pandemic paused production back in March and only recently resumed. Given the show is still filming it’s extremely unlikely it will be ready in December or would overlap with WandaVision’s episodes.
Ramirez joins a cast that already includes Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson aka The Falcon, Sebastian Stan as James “Bucky” Barnes aka The Winter Soldier, Daniel Bruhl as Zemo, Wyatt Russell as John Walker aka U.S Agent, Emily VanCamp as Sharon Carton aka Agent 13, Georges St-Peirre as Batroc The Leaper, Desmond Chiam, Erin Kellyman, Veronica Falcon, Adepero Oduye, and Carl Lumbly.
The series will explore the transition between Steve Rogers handing over the Captain America mantle over to Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson in Avengers: Endgame only for the American government to install their own candidate with Wyatt Russell’s John Walker aka U.S. Agent.
Set photos have revealed that one of the locations in the show is most likely Madripoor, a fictional lawless South-East Asian island nation originally created in the pages of the X-Men comics and could be used in the future for X-Men projects along with setting up various villains from that corner of the Marvel universe. Since the island has connections to The Hand (villains connected to Wolverine, Daredevil, and Elektra), Ophelia Sarkissian aka Viper/Madame Hydra, Wolverine, and Psylocke. A gang member’s jacket spotted on the set used imagery of an X-Men character called Ogun, a Japanese villain connected to Wolverine and Kitty Pryde aka Shadowcat.
There have been plenty of rumblings that the series could introduce a version of The Thunderbolts which were led by Zemo in the comic books. It’ll be interesting if that actually comes together as there had been unsupported talk of a Thunderbolts project being kicked-around at Marvel at one point.
The Falcon & The Winter Soldier is expected to drop elusively on Disney+ sometime in 2021.
In a new interview with Variety, showrunner Jon Favreau states that Season 3 of The Mandalorian is seemingly on schedule to begin filming before the end of the year as soon as Pedro Pascal finishes up a film he’s working on in Europe.
Executive producer and showrunner Jon Favreau told Variety that The Mandalorian is “on schedule” to start production on Season 3 of the series “before the end of the year” — after Pascal wraps shooting in Europe on the feature film The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent with Nicolas Cage.
The Ronin previously confirmed that production designer Andrew Jones is already set to return for Season 3.
Jon talked up about focusing on characters and flushing them out being a high priority along with not rushing things.
FAVREAU: “I love the world of Star Wars because, on the one hand, there’s a familiarity with this sub-genre, but there’s also a tremendous amount of flexibility of which way you can go and genres you could explore within that sub-genre. As we’re meeting new characters, and as we’re starting to hit our stride, from a production standpoint with how this technology can be used, we are beginning to explore where we could go.”
“And we could start to expand what we’re doing and our ambitions about what characters we want to follow.”
“I learned a lot from my experience over at Marvel, where it was very organic, how it would evolve. You’re paying attention to a larger story arcs and characters that could come together, but also smaller stories of individual characters that could go off [on their own thing]. The key here is keep maintaining the quality and never scaling to the point that we’re losing sight of what’s important to us and what people like about the show.”
When asked if they were keen on the idea of making a feature film Jon says they’re in “no rush” but is open to the idea.
FAVREAU: “The line is blurring now. Things that you would have only seen in the movie theater, you’re seeing on streaming, and I think it could go the other way as well.”
“But we’re definitely open to it and excited to see where the story leads us and have that flexibility — because there’s no rulebook now.”
Actor Pedro Pascal, who will be returning to shoot Season 3 despite rumors he’ll be replaced, is also game to do a movie.
PASCAL: “I think that the work is so beautiful that I would love for that to be held by a big screen experience. But it seems to work so well that also I’m not sure it’s something that I would want corrupted by any kind of change, you know? I mean, I certainly know that the challenge can be met. It’s not like these people don’t have the experience. If anybody can do it, they can!”
Giancarlo Esposito recently suggested The Mandalorian would be getting a fourth season before that has been officially announced which could suggest they plan on going pretty far with their Mandalorian run on Disney+. There have also been plenty of unconfirmed rumors about this season leading to multiple spinoff series but that has yet to be supported by industry trades or announced by Disney/Lucasfilm.
Season 2 of The Mandalorian begins airing on Disney+ starting on October 30th.
Yesterday, the Walt Disney Company announced a new initiative to get more content going for its streaming services such as Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu from its sports, television, and film divisions. The new division will be called The Media & Entertainment Distribution group led by Kareem Daniel.
It sounds like they’ll be dedicating a lot more resources and money than they have previously as means to compete with competitors like Netflix and Amazon. However, this announcement says nothing about them throwing their 2021 theatrical slate on Disney+ and never mention a thing about ending theatrical releases altogether only pushing to place more content on their streaming services.
We will get more details on these plans on December 10th.
During an interview with CNBC, Disney’s new CEO Bob Chapek was quick to point out that they aren’t looking to stop the theatrical experience and would be announcing further details.
Also, specifically downplayed COVID-19’s role in the decision.
CHAPEK: “I would not characterize it as a response to Covid. I would say Covid accelerated the rate at which we made this transition, but this transition was going to happen anyway. Because essentially what we want to do is separate out folks who make our wonderful content based on tremendous franchises from the decision making in terms of prioritization is on how it gets commercialized into the marketplace. And what we want to do is leave it to a group of folks you can really see objectively across all of the constituents we have and various considerations we’ve got and make the optimal decision for the company as opposed to having it predetermined that a movie is destined to theaters or that a TV show is destined for ABC. So what we really want to do is provide some level of objectivity and really make it a decision that benefits the overall company and its shareholders.”
When pressed on Disney’s commitment to the theatrical model Bob said the following that gives the impression they’re not giving up on the theatrical model just yet.
CHAPEK: “We’ve benefited from a tremendous relationship with theatrical exhibition for many many many years as dynamics change in the marketplace though we want to make sure that we are giving consumers who want to go to theaters to experience everything that a theatrical release can give them, we want to continue to give them that option but at the same time there are a lot of consumers that want to experience a movie in the safety, comfort, and convenience of their own home for whatever reasons they do.”
To me, it sounds like either they are going to pursue a shorter theatrical window or a mixed model of day-and-date which obviously the theater industry wouldn’t be terribly pleased about on either front.
Here is the official press release from the Walt Disney Company website that gets a little more into the weeds about what all this means.
In light of the tremendous success achieved to date in the Company’s direct-to-consumer business and to further accelerate its DTC strategy, The Walt Disney Company (NYSE: DIS) today announced a strategic reorganization of its media and entertainment businesses. Under the new structure, Disney’s world-class creative engines will focus on developing and producing original content for the Company’s streaming services, as well as for legacy platforms, while distribution and commercialization activities will be centralized into a single, global Media and Entertainment Distribution organization. The new Media and Entertainment Distribution group will be responsible for all monetization of content—both distribution and ad sales—and will oversee operations of the Company’s streaming services. It will also have sole P&L accountability for Disney’s media and entertainment businesses.
The creation of content will be managed in three distinct groups—Studios, General Entertainment, and Sports—headed by current leaders Alan F. Horn and Alan Bergman, Peter Rice, and James Pitaro. The Media and Entertainment Distribution group will be headed by Kareem Daniel, formerly President, Consumer Products, Games and Publishing. All five leaders will report directly to Bob Chapek, Chief Executive Officer, The Walt Disney Company. Disney Parks, Experiences and Products will continue to operate under its existing structure, led by Josh D’Amaro, Chairman, Disney Parks, Experiences and Products, who continues to report to Mr. Chapek. Rebecca Campbell will serve as Chairman, International Operations and Direct-to-Consumer. Bob Iger, in his role as Executive Chairman, will continue to direct the Company’s creative endeavors.
“Given the incredible success of Disney+ and our plans to accelerate our direct-to-consumer business, we are strategically positioning our Company to more effectively support our growth strategy and increase shareholder value,” Mr. Chapek said. “Managing content creation distinct from distribution will allow us to be more effective and nimble in making the content consumers want most, delivered in the way they prefer to consume it. Our creative teams will concentrate on what they do best—making world-class, franchise-based content—while our newly centralized global distribution team will focus on delivering and monetizing that content in the most optimal way across all platforms, including Disney+, Hulu, ESPN+ and the coming Star international streaming service.”
Under the new structure, the Company’s three content groups will be responsible and accountable for producing and delivering content for theatrical, linear and streaming, with the primary focus being the Company’s streaming services:
STUDIOS: Messrs. Horn and Bergman will serve as Chairmen, Studios Content, which will focus on creating branded theatrical and episodic content based on the Company’s powerhouse franchises for theatrical exhibition, Disney+ and the Company’s other streaming services. The group will include the content engines of The Walt Disney Studios, including Disney live action and Walt Disney Animation Studios, Pixar Animation Studios, Marvel Studios, Lucasfilm, 20th Century Studios and Searchlight Pictures.
GENERAL ENTERTAINMENT: Mr. Rice will serve as Chairman, General Entertainment Content, which will focus on creating general entertainment episodic and original long-form content for the Company’s streaming platforms and its cable and broadcast networks. The group will include the content engines of 20th Television, ABC Signature and Touchstone Television; ABC News; Disney Channels; Freeform; FX; and National Geographic.
SPORTS: Mr. Pitaro will serve as Chairman, ESPN and Sports Content, which will focus on ESPN’s live sports programming, as well as sports news and original and non-scripted sports-related content, for the cable channels, ESPN+, and ABC.
The Media and Entertainment Distribution group, led by Mr. Daniel, will be responsible for the P&L management and all distribution, operations, sales, advertising, data and technology functions worldwide for all of the Company’s content engines, and it will also manage operations of the Company’s streaming services and domestic television networks. The group will work in close collaboration with the content creation teams on programming and marketing.
It’ll be interesting to see if Disney+ will start mining IP from the 20th Century Studios side of things soon as Disney+ series and limited series focused on properties like Avatar and Planet of The Apes could be extremely successful. In the press release they suggest that they could end up making episodic projects based on 20th Century properties.
A live-action Flash Gordon series stands out as a property that Disney really could do justice with on Disney+ and be a counter of sorts to their Star Wars shows as it could be way more swashbuckling than the Lucasfilm property that was inspired by it. Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, Thor: Love & Thunder, Jojo Rabbit) is attached to direct an animated Flash Gordon film and at one time 20th Century was developing a live-action feature as well from directors Matthew Vaughn (X-Men: First Class, Stardust, Layer Cake) and Julius Avery (Overlord) involved at different points.
I wouldn’t even put it past Disney to reboot John Carter eventually given the Volume/StageCraft would allow them to make a series more cost effective that world like Flash Gordon is different enough from Star Wars it would be worth pursuing.
Of course, this could mean a major influx of more shows from Marvel, Star Wars, and Pixar universes but might also see Hulu getting a bump of adult content as well with franchises like Alien (Noah Hawley pitched an Alien series to FX) and Predator just collecting dust while they could be helpful to get more eyeballs on Hulu. HBO Max had recently crowed about Ridley Scott’s sci-fi series Raised By Wolves being the most popular original on their service when announcing they were moving forward with a Season 2 order.
Matthew Vaughn has also been talking up the idea of a Kingsman spinoff series that could fit nicely at Hulu.
Disney certainly has a massive gap in the adult market and places like Canada don’t have access to Hulu and that really needs to change if they want to compete with Netflix/Amazon on an international level as those services offer content to both kids and adults alike. Cornering the kid market just won’t be enough for Disney if they want to grow their streaming presence.
I guess we’ll have to wait for December 10th to get more concrete answers about what all this actually means for content that is already in the can or is about to begin filming.
Ewan McGregor previously chatted with Entertainment Tonight to promote Apple TV+’s Long Way Up, where he revealed that production on Kenobi has been pushed to the spring and is indeed being planned as a single standalone season.
MCGREGOR: “Spring next year we start, I’m really excited about it. It’s gonna be great, I think. As I understand, it’s a standalone season. We’ll see. Who knows?”
This is now an update from Ewan.
Appearing on BBC’s The Graham Norton Show he stated cameras would begin rolling in March, giving an actual start month for the Star Wars series. Originally, they had planned on starting in January.
MCGREGOR: “Yeah, it’s the Obi-Wan Kenobi story I suppose…we start shooting it in March next year.”
While speaking with ACE Universe back in June he confirmed that they would be implementing the StageCraft technology used on The Mandalorian. This could suggest they will be using the new setup at Pinewood Studios UK.
MCGREGOR: “[The prequels] were all blue screen and green screen and it was hard to imagine, but nowadays I think things have moved on so much, and I think a lot of what you see is gonna be what we see on the set. I don’t know if you’ve seen the behind-the-scenes of The Mandalorian series, but they employ that incredible screen…it’s pretty amazing. It makes you feel like you’re in the place, it’s going to feel realer for us, as actors. And I think we’ll be using some of that technology on our show.”
The Mandalorian’s Deborah Chow is directing with recent script rewrites from Army of The Dead’s Joby Harold.
While we’ve had a string of casting announcements for Diego Luna’s Cassian Andor series there haven’t been any for the Kenobi series and with a March start we will likely start hearing some news on that front in the very near future.
Back in February, up-and-coming British actor Oliver Jackson-Cohen (The Invisible Man) was asked by Entertainment Tonight about playing Marvel’s next big role Marc Spector aka Moon Knight. While not familiar with the character he was game for it.
JACKSON-COHEN: “I have heard this, yes. I don’t understand what a Moon Knight is. Sign me up!. No, I’d love to. Every single time I open Instagram, it’s like, ‘MOON KNIGHT!’ And I’m like, ‘This is so great and thank you, but I don’t know what it is!’. No one’s called me. I would love to be a Marvel superhero. That would be a dream. Tell all of your viewers to go and stand outside Marvel headquarters!”
Moon Knight is the next Marvel Studios series that will announce their main lead in the near future and is expected to shoot in the United Kingdom and the United States under the working title of Good Faith. The character would open the door to more of the occult, supernatural, and horror elements in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, not unlike Mahershala Ali’s upcoming Blade reboot.
The hero is ostensibly Marc Spector, a mercenary who has numerous after egos – cabbie Jake Lockley and millionaire playboy Steven Grant – in order to better fight the criminal underworld. But later he was established as being a conduit for the Egyptian moon god Khonshu. Most recently, he was a consultant who dresses in all-white and goes by the name Mr. Knight.
He’s now reaffirmed that desire to play Spector while speaking with Comic Book to promote his upcoming Netflix series Haunting of Bly Manor.
JACKSON-COHEN: “Listen, Twitter is quite the encyclopedia and I have been very fortunate that people have educated me well on Moon Knight and Marvel and the world of it. The honest response is that I have no idea, no one has called me about this, but, again, I stand by what I said, that Moon Knight sounds like a fascinating, fascinating character, and I’d love to get my hands on that, but you just never know, do you?”
The problem with actors voicing their desire to play a character publicly is that tend to be the kinds of actors that Marvel avoids. Most recent castings of Jonathan Majors as Kang The Conqueror, Tatiana Maslany as Jennifer Walters aka She-Hulk, and Iman Vellani as Kamala Khan aka Ms. Marvel have been people that were never part of the rumor mill and various fan campaigns on social media.
Also, there has been no shortage of random casting rumors/fan campaigns on the internet (take with a pinch of salt) for Marc Spector from Zac Efron, Daniel Radcliffe, Shia Labeouf, and even the increasingly busy Keanu Reeves. Some of the names would conflict with various casting and character information that had been making the rounds because there was talk that Marvel Studios wanted to hire a practicing Jewish actor but Efron (non-practicing and too busy) and Reeves (Christian and too busy) wouldn’t meet that criteria. There was also talk of Marvel looking at younger actors in their 30s, a little young given how much Spector has done before becoming Moon Knight and now that has jumped to actors 40-50. This could simply mean that this information is iffy, to begin with, which is why we shouldn’t take this stuff too seriously until there is an official announcement from trades/Marvel.
Earlier in the year, Daniel Radcliffe specifically debunked those rumblings that he was being pursued by Marvel for Moon Knight while speaking to Coming Soon.
RADCLIFFE: “I’m not averse to doing any kind of franchise thing in the future again, that could be fun. But the Moon Knight rumors are untrue, I can officially debunk that one, I haven’t heard anything about it.”
It does seem like that we’ll learn who is directing Moon Knight before we’ll get the announcement of the actor playing Marc Spector.
Deadline reports that Canadian newcomer Iman Vellani has been hired by Marvel Studios to play the role of Kamala Khan in their Disney+ series Ms. Marvel.
Kamala Khan is a Pakistani-American Muslim teenager living in New Jersey, a Carol Danvers super-fan that discovers she has superpowers. In the comics she is part of The Inhumans and eventually joins the Young Avengers.
The show directors are said to include Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, and Meera Menon. Bisha K. Ali is also writing the series.
There had been rumblings that filming could begin as early as November in Atlanta. However, filming will be heavily reliant on where the United States and Georgia will be concerning the second wave of COVID-19.
The Ms. Marvel role will lead to Iman making the jump the movies and most likely will appear in stuff like Captain Marvel 2.
THE RONIN 