Venom 2 Director Says He Wants To Take The Franchise In A Different Direction

Andy Serkis was only officially confirmed to be behind the camera on Venom 2 yesterday after speculation had been linking him to the project for weeks, but the director is already eager to put his ideas for the franchise into action. The first movie may not have been universally adored, but it nonetheless managed to earn over $850 million at the box office, making a sequel almost a foregone conclusion.

Serkis may not seem like an obvious choice to many people to take over a big budget studio pic, but despite being best known for his pioneering motion capture work and performances in the Lord of the Rings series, King Kong and the recent Planet of the Apes trilogy, the filmmaker also acted as the second unit director on Peter Jackson’s Hobbit trilogy, as well as helming two distinct features of his own: the biopic Breathe and effects-heavy fantasy Mowgli.

Of course, Serkis hasn’t been involved with Venom 2 for very long at this point, but revealed in a recent interview that he already has an idea of where he wants to go with both the story and the characters, saying:

“I’m right in the beginning stages, so I’ve got some very clear ideas about the journey, and what I’d like to see visually, and how we can take the characters in another direction. I’m excited to work with all the great actors who are involved. It’s a fantastic franchise. I’m really honored to have been asked to direct it. And it feels like it’s a very, again, very contemporary story. And I think it’s going to be, hopefully, a story piece of cinema.”

The first Venom boasted an all-star cast but the only person that really made much of an impact was Tom Hardy, largely thanks to his deranged lead performance. Thankfully, it sounds as though the actor has had a much more hands-on role in development this time around, with Serkis explaining:

“Tom was very involved in the writing, with Kelly Marcel, of the new story. So it’s very much centered around their take.”

No exact details are known about the story as of yet, but based on the post-credits scene of Venom, the sequel will likely see Eddie Brock and his symbiotic alter-ego going up against Woody Harrelson’s Kletus Kasady and his incredible wig. With a director now officially in place, expect more announcements to arrive in the coming weeks, with Venom 2 set for release in October 2020.