Deadline reports that Lucasfilm’s Disney+ series Willow, a sequel based on the original 1988 film, is in negotiations with a trio of actresses to take lead roles in the fantasy series from Solo: A Star Wars Story screenwriter Jonathan Kasdan and co-showrunner Wendy Mericle with star Warwick Davis expected to reprise the role of Willow.
Erin Kellyman (The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, Solo: A Star Wars Story, The Green Knight) is said to be up for the role of Jade, Cailee Spaeny (Pacific Rim: Uprising, Bad Times At The El Royale) playing Kit and English actress Ellie Bamber (Nocturnal Animals) as Dove.
They also included some character information which you can see below which sounds like the show will be mostly female driven.
According to circulated casting information for the series, it revolves around a group on a mission to save a kidnapped prince. The members of the team include Dove (Bamber), whose backstory resembles that of Willow from the movie. Dove is an unassuming kitchen maid who proves that she is the “chosen one” as she embarks on the journey. She is joined by Kit (Spaeny), the princess whose twin brother was abducted. She is destined to be a leader and ultimately the queen. Kellyman plays Jade, a servant who is Kit’s best friend and moral compass. She is on her way to becoming the best young warrior in the kingdom. Also part of the group is a guy who echoes Val Kilmer’s character in the movie. A thief and liar, he joins the quest in exchange for getting out of prison.
Erin did her scenes in Solo: A Star Wars Story alongside Willow lead Warwick Davis.
Disney officially announced the series was moving forward last month in a press release.
Filming will be taking place in Wales with Jon M. Chu (Crazy Rich Asians) set to direct the pilot.
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.
John Wick creator Derek Kolstad was brought on to help develop the scripts for Marvel’s series The Falcon & The Winter Soldier. During a recent interview on the podcast Script Apart (spotted by Empire), Derek seemed to reveal that multiple characters from the earliest Marvel movies making a return for the show.
We already know that Zemo and Batroc The Leaper are confirmed to return for the series, but this sounds like some Phase 1 characters are back as well.
KOLSTAD: “What I will say is that there are characters from the earliest Marvel movies that are coming back. We’re layering them in and reinventing them in a way that’s gonna shift the storytelling structure. It’s fucking awesome.”
I think we’ve all assumed that William Hurt’s Thunderbolt Ross from The Incredible Hulk and Captain America: Civil War is most likely going to show up since he appeared in Avengers: Infinity War, Avengers: Endgame, and is expected to also appear in the upcoming Black Widow film as he was featured in the trailers.
Ross could be part of the effort to make John Walker aka U.S. Agent the next Captain America along with past super-soldier experiments that are expected to be in the series as he had access to the serum in The Incredible Hulk. There have also been rumblings that the Thunderbolts are going to be introduced or at least teased in The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, given Ross could be their namesake and operate from The Raft would make a lot of sense. Ross’ alter ego Red Hulk just happens to be one of the more modern members of a recent incarnation of the Thunderbolts as well.
One character that is likely a strong contender to return is the digital version of Dr. Arnim Zola, who appeared as a regular human scientist played by Toby Jones in Captain America: The First Avenger only to be brought to the United States and eventually part of the secret HYDRA cell within S.H.I.E.L.D. as revealed in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Zola himself was digitized in an underground bunker and seemingly was destroyed in that film.
However, concept art from artist Josh Nizzi revealed that there seemed to have been plans at Marvel Studios to bring Zola back a year later in Peyton Reed’s Ant-Man along with the idea of giving him a robotic body. Nizzi attempted to design multiple robot bodies for Zola but the character sadly didn’t appear in the final version of the film.
This new body established in the comic books was teased in Captain America: The First Avenger with the Easter Egg of Zola’s blueprints for that new robotic body.
While Zola didn’t appear in Ant-Man, Sam Wilson aka Falcon had a cameo in the solo installment tussling with Scott Lang on the Avengers campus and then Sam called him in for the airport battle in Captain America: Civil War.
The show’s cast 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, Danny Ramirez, Adepero Oduye, Veronica Falcon (confirmed by The Ronin) and Carl Lumbly.
The Ronin first reported back in mid-August that The Falcon & The Winter Soldier would be delayed to sometime in 2021 and not debut in 2020 as originally expected. Disney and Marvel have yet to make an official announcement concerning the show’s new release date.
We can now confirm that actress Veronica Falcon indeed has a role in the Marvel Studios/Disney+ series The Falcon & The Winter Soldier. Her credits include the drug cartel crime series Queen of The South, HBO’s Perry Mason, and worked with Disney on their Jungle Cruise film starring Emily Blunt and Dwayne Johnson.
She joins a cast that 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, Danny Ramirez, Adepero Oduye, and Carl Lumbly.
The Ronin spotted a social media post from Veronica on Instagram that hints to her landing a role in the series and was part of the Prague shoot before everything halted due to COVID-19 back in March.
Her name had recently appeared on the IMDB listing for the series in the role of “Mama Donnya” but had yet to be officially announced by other websites or mentioned in trade reports.
The Ronin was the first outlet to report back in mid-August that series wouldn’t be ready for a 2020 drop and had been pushed to sometime in 2021.
Veronica’s upcoming film Jungle Cruise is set to be released on July 30th, 2021.
JUNGLE CRUISE – Inspired by the famous Disneyland theme park ride, Disney’s JUNGLE CRUISE is an adventure-filled, Amazon-jungle expedition starring Dwayne Johnson as the charismatic riverboat captain and Emily Blunt as a determined explorer on a research mission. Also starring in the film are Edgar Ramirez, Jack Whitehall, with Jesse Plemons, and Paul Giamatti.
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.
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.
Back In May, Murphy’s Multiverse had speculated that young actress Erin Kellyman (Solo: A Star Wars Story, The Green Knight) had taken an undisclosed role in the Marvel Studios series The Falcon & The Winter Soldier. That has now been officially confirmed thanks to a recent set photo from Atlanta, Georgia as the Star Wars actress (her name obviously misspelled in the IG post) can be seen working with Captain America: The Winter Soldier’s George St-Pierre, as he reprises the Batroc The Leaper role in the series.
Could Erin be playing Batroc’s young assassin/mercenary daughter Marie?
Erin is likely most notable for her role as Star Wars character Enfys Nest in Solo: A Star Wars Story and has a role in A24’s Arthurian fantasy film The Green Knight which still hasn’t been given a new release date.
The Ronin reported back in mid-August that The Falcon & The Winter Soldier would see it’s release delayed until sometime in 2021 after many were adamant that it could still make a 2020 release despite having a fair amount of filming to do. The delay tidbit has seemingly been confirmed by Disney+ as they’ve excluded the series from their 2020 lineup promo material and the official website lists a TBA 2021 release.
Hopefully, they won’t delay the series too long as many folks are really looking forward to getting their hands on it after the recent news that Black Widow’s release date has been pushed to May.
In mid-August, The Ronin mentioned in an article updating on the status of the upcoming Marvel Studios series on Disney+ that The Falcon & The Winter Soldier was now expected to be pushed from a release in 2020 to sometime in 2021 after hearing from a source close to Marvel.
First, it seems like WandaVision may indeed be finished enough to debut before the end of the year. We know that the series is still planning to do some pick-up shots or reshoots but it doesn’t seem like it will be enough to hinder a 2020 release.
However, The Falcon & The Winter Soldier is expected to have been pushed back to 2021.
This coming after multiple delays to restart and finish the show’s principal photography due to the Coronavirus pandemic which has impacted global production in various degrees.
Disney+ has all but confirmed our delay tidbit as they rolled out two social media posts outlining remaining 2020 content which included WandaVision for a release in December but failed to mention The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, the only conclusion is that our information was correct and the show will be delayed to 2021.
This is the way… to get pumped for the coming months. Start streaming favorites like Hidden Figures, X2, and Big, plus Originals like The Right Stuff from @NatGeo, Clouds, @MarvelStudios’ WandaVision, and a new season of The Mandalorian. Coming soon on #DisneyPlus. pic.twitter.com/PrS1LovFq4
The series will explore the transition period between when Steve Rogers gives the shield to Sam Wilson (Mackie) to become the new Captain America along with the government taking ownership of the superhero legacy leading to Wyatt Russell’s U.S. Agent taking over the mantle instead as seen in set pictures and footage.
Sebastian Stan’s Winter Soldier seems to be along for the ride in the buddy-cop/superhero genre series.
We’ll see the return of characters such as Zemo and Sharon Carter alongside some brand new ones as well.
Filming had recently resumed in Atlanta, Georgia with Batroc actor George St-Pierre confirmed for a return after being spotted on the set. There is a strong expectation that the series could help to set up and introduce the Marvel Cinematic Universe version of the Thunderbolts, given the original incarnation was lead by Zemo.
Back in March, there was a rumor making the rounds that Captain America: The Winter Soldier villain Batroc The Leaper would be returning for The Falcon & The Winter Soldier, it’s now confirmed.
Just Jared posted new set photos from Atlanta, Georgia feature Emily VanCamp and George St-Pierre. They also include the first look at the mysterious character being played by Desmond Chiam.
Batroc was hired secretly by Nick Fury in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and was in S.H.I.E.L.D./HYDRA custody. It’ll be interesting to see if Thunderbolt Ross is involved with him in a Thunderbolts situation or if he is back to his mercenary ways.
Filming had been delayed due to COVID-19 and is only just resuming now, I previously heard that it likely won’t be ready for a 2020 on Disney+ and given the extra that it will take to complete with Coronavirus precautions it seems like that is likely the case.
The Ronin has caught-wind of some interesting developments concerning the releases of the first two Disney+ shows from Marvel Studios and the potential production order of the ones that haven’t started to begin shooting.
First, it seems like WandaVision may indeed be finished enough to debut before the end of the year. We know that the series is still planning to do some pick-up shots or reshoots but it doesn’t seem like it will be enough to hinder a 2020 release.
However, The Falcon & The Winter Soldier is expected to have been pushed back to 2021.
Disney has yet to make solid announcements recently about when either show will be released other than reaffirming that Season 2 of The Mandalorian will be ready to go in October.
One big reason for the delay might not even be related to The Falcon‘s production pause, as it’s been months since Disney+ content has been shot due to the pandemic and that will leave a content gap next year for many streaming services. This could see places being a little more reserved and Disney dropping two Marvel shows alongside The Mandalorian might be a little too much at once.
Loki was always set to be released in 2021, so that doesn’t seem to have changed in any major way.
Also, while this could change due to COVID-19 and location scheduling, below seems to be the current production order of the new shows that haven’t started shooting.
Hawkeye
Ms. Marvel
Moon Knight
She-Hulk
This does make sense since Hawkeye and Ms. Marvel are further along in the casting process. Then again, multiple Marvel shows were in production in Atlanta at the same time, so the start dates might not be as staggered as they are with the feature films.
She-Hulk might be done with their scripts but it’s possible that Mark Ruffalo’s schedule is a factor, if he has indeed signed-on as expected.
On the film side, release dates are influx as there is a very good shot that Shang-Chi & The Legend of The Ten Rings might not make it’s May 7th, 2021 release because of the production delays in Australia shortening the post-production window.
It’s unknown if Black Widow will stick to it’s November 6th theatrical release date or will be bumped to Eternals‘ February 12th, 2021 spot instead. There has been plenty of fan speculation it’ll simply be dumped on Disney+’s Premier Access section like Mulan, but little evidence to support it.
It is a little upsetting that without San Diego Comic-Con Marvel hasn’t made any big announcements. Hopefully, they’ll give some updates in the very near future taking cues from the upcoming event DC FanDome and doing their own in-house version of it.
‘Black Widow’ Director Cate Shortland Says They’re Passing Baton To Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova
Black Widow director Cate Shortland tells Empire in a newly published interview that instead of making the solo film an origin story for Scarlett’s Natasha Romanoff, they see is as passing the baton to Florence Pugh’s Yelena Belova.
SHORTLAND: “[Kevin Feige] realized that the audience would expect an origin story so, of course, we went in the opposite direction,” Shortland tells Empire. “And we didn’t know how great Florence Pugh would be. We knew she would be great, but we didn’t know how great. Scarlett is so gracious, like, ‘Oh, I’m handing her the baton.’ So it’s going to propel another female storyline.”
“In Endgame, the fans were upset that Natasha did not have a funeral. Whereas Scarlett, when I spoke to her about it, said Natasha wouldn’t have wanted a funeral. She’s too private, and anyway, people don’t really know who she is. So what we did in this film was allow the ending to be the grief the individuals felt, rather than a big public outpouring. I think that’s a fitting ending for her.”
The film has been expected to be released on November 6th, after Disney gave the film Eternal‘s original spot in the spring. However, it’s unknown if the film will get pushed to February 12th given the rise in new cases of COVID-19 in the United States which could be a problem for the studio attempting to earn hundreds of millions of dollars at the global box office.
Also, a new trailer is expected to be on the way after it was classified in the United Kingdom.
‘Thor: Love & Thunder’ Actress Tessa Thompson Expects An Explosion of Diversity In Marvel’s Phase Four
In a recent interview for Variety, Thor franchise actress Tessa Thompson talked-up how Marvel’s Phase Four will be ramping-up representation in a big way.
THOMPSON: “I think in this next phase of Marvel, we’re really talking about what representation looks like in those spaces. Because the truth is these movies travel globally in such huge ways, and if you can represent people that are of color, if you can represent people with disabilities, if you can represent the LGBTQIA community inside of these films, it’s a pretty big deal.”
“There’s millions and millions of people, particularly young people, that show up to the cinema. And I think if you can show them something that looks like them, they feel valued. Particularly inside of these narratives of the comic books, that’s what it’s all about. It’s that our differences make us special.”
We know they’ll be making some strides soon with having Asian main leads in Eternals with Gemma Chan playing leading heroine Sersi and Shang-Chi with Simu Liu and Awkwafina.
Pakistani-American comedian/actor Kumail Nanjiani has a decently sized role in Eternals playing superhero Kingo and deaf actress Lauren Ridloff plays speedster Makkari in the film. We’ll also see openly gay parents played by Brian Tyree Henry (Phastos) and Haaz Sleiman.
One of their upcoming Disney+ series Ms. Marvel will feature a Pakistani-American Muslim teenager from New Jersey named Kamala Khan.
Oscar-winner Mahershala Ali was announced as the new actor to play a rebooted version of Blade in the MCU last summer and it remains to be seen if his version of the Daywalker in the Phase Five project will reflect his own Muslim faith.
Tessa’s own Valkyrie will be seeking her queen in Thor: Love & Thunder. Hopefully, Disney/Marvel will be more comfortable in the future to actually have non-hetero heroes leading their films, not just in supporting roles.
We’ll have to see what other doors they’ll be opening for characters/actors in the future, but as pointed out recently by Anthony Mackie the studio needs to do a better job of hiring a diverse group of people behind the camera as well.
‘Doctor Strange 2’ Actor Chiwetel Ejiofor Excited To Work With Director Sam Raimi
While promoting his new Netflix film The Old Guard, actor Chiwetel Ejiofor expressed his excitement to work with director Sam Raimi on the upcoming Doctor Strange sequel titled Doctor Strange In The Multiverse of Madness.
Chiwetel will be reprising his role as villain Baron Karl Mordo.
Raimi, who directed the original Spider-Man trilogy for Sony Pictures had replaced Scott Derrickson on the Doctor Strange sequel after there were “creative differences”
EJIOFOR: “I love Sam Raimi, so I’m very excited that he’s making a film, the second Doctor Strange. He brings to anything he does, a wealth of imagination and passion. In this genre, he’s just one of the seminal figures. I remember seeing Darkman when I was a kid. It was beyond, it’s so amazing.”
“So I think he has an incredible mind and I think he’s really able to bring that mind into his storytelling in a really unique way, and it’s very suited to the world that’s been created by Doctor Strange, and I’m very excited to see what he does with that world.”
The cast also includes Benedict Cumberbatch as Strange, Elizabeth Olsen taking a co-starring role as Scarlet Witch, and we’ll also see the return of Benedict Wong as Wong.
There is an expectation that both Disney+ series Loki and WandaVision will help establish the events of the sequel along with introducing the Multiverse.
Filming had been originally expected to begin in the spring/summer at Longcross Studios in Surrey, England along with exterior locations in Norway and New York City.
There is a slim possibility that filming could begin in the fall on the Doctor Strange sequel, but it’s unlikely they’ve been able to finish the set construction phase of prep to shooting anytime soon. Suggesting they could push the production start into 2021 as I believe they will for Spider-Man 3 as well.
Chris Evans Already Misses Playing Captain America
During an interview with Backstage, Captain America and Avengers star Chris Evans mentioned that he already misses the role. However, don’t get too excited about the potential of him returning to the role anytime soon.
EVANS: “I absolutely loved my time with Marvel. I already miss it, but there’s no denying that it is very exciting to just have complete freedom to pursue whatever my creative appetite wants.”
We know Evans has been linked for a supporting lead role in the new Little Shop of Horrors incarnation from Warner Bros. and we’ll see Anthony Mackie’s Sam Wilson eventually take on the Captain America mantle in his Disney+ series The Falcon & The Winter Soldier.
Director Gina Prince-Bythewood Hopeful She’ll Pivot Back To ‘Spider-Man’ Spinoff ‘Silver & Black’
The Old Guard director Gina Prince-Bythewood has revealed to GamesRadar+ that she would be open to returning to Sony’s Silver & Black at some point. The project is a Spider-Man spinoff that would have paired talented thief Felicia Hardy aka Black Cat and mercenary Silver Sablinova aka Silver Sable in their own movie.
Gina sounds open to the idea of returning to the project once Sony is ready to make it.
PRINCE-BYTHEWOOD: “My honest answer is I don’t know. I really love those characters, I loved having them together. I thought, what we came up with was a really good, really organic way to have the two together. That world is changing so much because of the success of the Spider-Man films.”
“There’s a question of, ‘Can you really have these films with Spider-Man not in them? Should he at least have some sort of part in them?’ That’s always the question. I’ve taken two years off of that for [The Old Guard] so once this gets out into the world, I hope it’s a success, and then I’ll certainly go back and start talking with them again.”
In the wake of Gina leaving to make The Old Guard, Sony announced plans to split the project into two separate films. They haven’t updated since and Prince-Bythewood had suggested previously that a possible Disney+ series was being considered.
Sony has been hellbent on getting together as many Spider-Man spinoff films in development as possible after the massive success of Tom Hardy’s Venom at the box office back in 2018.
In 2021, we’ll see the release of both Morbius and Venom: Let There Be Carnage, the latter project confirmed with its teaser trailer the film is directly connected to Spider-Man: Homecoming after featuring Michael Keaton’s Vulture in a scene. It remains to be seen how much involvement if any we’ll see from Marvel Studios concerning these spinoffs and if they’ll be allowed to call themselves part of the greater Marvel Cinematic Universe.
THE RONIN 