Who is Juno Temple playing in ‘Venom: The Last Dance?’

Our favorite buddy cop duo of Eddie Brock and alien symbiote Venom are back with the third installment in Sony’s franchise, Venom: The Last Dance. Naturally, we are also going to see some new faces on the dance floor, including Ted Lasso star, Juno Temple.

In her career, the 34-year-old actress starred in dozens of movies and TV shows. Yet, she mostly made herself known to wider audiences with the role of Keeley Jones in Ted Lasso. Those who watched Apple TV’s terrific show know the rocky and adventurous journey she had in it, and now she’s about to step into a new role in Venom: The Last Dance.

Who is Juno Temple playing in Venom: The Last Dance?

The movie’s latest and first trailer released on June 3, showcasing around three minutes of action and, in typical Venom-style, even more comedy. Old characters like Mrs. Chen dance with the symbiote, while new ones are teased in a few shots, including an unnamed character to be played by Chiwetel Ejiofor, and Juno Temple. While the details about the former are unknown, and by all we know he could just be another Mordo, we know a bit more about the latter.

Juno Temple is starring in Venom: The Last Dance as Dr. Payne. While she’s not named in the trailer, the name is revealed in the closed captions of the trailer. Unfortunately, there is hardly a character of the exact same name in the Marvel Comics we could connect her wit — though, it’s tantalizingly similar to Thaddeus Paine.

In the comics, Paine was a scientist who conducted horrible experiments on terminally-ill people. If that sounds awful, wait till you learn that he had metal surgical gloves, was unable to feel pain and had a hunger for human brains. An odd combination, we know, but it’s almost perfect for a second-tier villain.

More importantly, in the comics, Paine and Eddie Brock crossed paths. At one point, the latter was separated from Venom, which allowed the scientist to study and experiment on the human host. However, after the two reunited, they hunted Paine down and sucked phenethylamine out of him, making him hungry for human brains forever.

Now, we don’t know how many similarities the two characters will share, if any. Especially given the fact that other villains are also teased in Venom: The Last Dance trailer, including Toxin and Venom’s kin from symbiote’s home world. So, for all we know, Juno Temple’s Dr. Payne could just be a random villainous scientist.

Nevertheless, it’s quite intriguing to see her character named so similarly to a comic book villain. Additionally, Dr. Payne is seen to be conducting some sorts of experiments on other symbiotes, so everything seems to match ideally. And, if anything, seeing Tom Hardy’s Venom sucking someone’s brains out would be a perfect fit to the trilogy. I mean, The Last Dance requires a last shared meal, right?

Venom: The Last Dance will release in theaters on Oct. 25.