Is Rhys Ifans playing The Lizard in ‘Venom: The Last Dance’ or a new character?

Ever wanted to get your arm back so much you accidentally turned yourself into a giant reptile? Yeah, me neither, but that’s the story of Curt Connors A.K.A The Lizard, one of the main villains from Spider-Man’s vast rogue gallery.

The character portrayed by Rhys Ifans in The Amazing Spider-Man movies, who in 2021 reprised his role in Spider-Man: No Way Home. It looks like now he could be taking regeneration to the next level, since the character could be returning in Sony Studios’ upcoming superhero flick, Venom: The Last Dance.

These rumors started making their way after the first trailer for the movie dropped on June 3. Among goofy humor and some serious brain-eating, it showcases new characters in the movie, including one portrayed by Rhys Ifans. Is the 56-year-old coming back in The Lizard’s role and will try to get under another web-head skin, or is he an entirely different person?

Who is Rhys Ifans playing in Venom: The Last Dance?

It currently remains unknown if Rhys Ifans is playing The Lizard/Curt Connors in Venom: The Last Dance, however, it’s highly unlikely. The actor is shown only once in the trailer. By the looks of it, he’s playing guitar and vibing with his dog, while Tom Hardy is deep in his thoughts (perhaps wondering how this trilogy came in existence). Ifans’ character is chilling, instead of looking to cure his arm or to turn New York City into lizards. More importantly, he actually has both hands, so there would have been no need to transform himself into The Lizard in the first place.

It would make perfect sense for Ifans to be playing an entirely different role for multiple reasons. For starters, the villain van already seems full in Venom: The Last Dance. The latest trailer revealed other symbiotes who are chasing Venom, and hinted at Toxin, Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Juno Temple’s villainous roles.

Besides, the Venom trilogy takes place in an entirely different universe than Andrew Garfield and Rhys Ifans’ The Amazing Spider-Man movies.

Sure, someone could argue that despite all that, the Lizard made it into Spider-Man: No Way Home either way. But, this time, it looks like there’s no spoiled teenager or a master of mystic arts to allow for some multiversal shenanigans. That is, unless a very (un)likely theory of Ejiofor’s character being another version of sorcerer Mordo becomes true. And even that has some support. In the trailer, he visits a bartender from No Way Home’s post-credit scene, who served Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock drinks before he got teleported back to his universe.

Buuuut that is still unlikely, and Ifans is likely just a fresh character in Tom Hardy’s Venom trilogy. Or maybe he is Curt Connors, but this time he studied music and arts instead of biotechnology. Either way, we will know for sure when Venom: The Last Dance releases on Oct. 25.