Oscar nominee Chiwetel Ejiofor, Doctor Strange star, will be joining Tom Hardy in the upcoming third iteration of Venom, a movie about the famous Spider-Man villain that’s grossed more than $1 billion between the two movies so far.
Ejiofor, who plays Baron Mordo in Doctor Strange and the sequel Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, will join the cast of the upcoming sequel Venom 3. Hardy will return as main character Venom and it will be directed by Kelly Marcel, who previously held writing duties on the first two films, Deadline revealed.
Hardy will also act as a producer on the film, and it’s based on a screenplay he wrote with Marcel. We don’t know who Ejiofor is playing yet, as even plot details are being kept secret. It could be anyone in the Marvel Spider-Man universe, but we know for sure it won’t be Kraven the Hunter, who has his own movie coming out in the near future.
Principal photography on the film will begin in June, per Screenrant, and Sony is finalizing all of its pre production necessities. Back when Ejiofor, a British actor, was cast in the Doctor Strange sequel, he said it was “bonkers” and “really exciting” to be back in a Marvel movie.
“It’s been a real joy to bring that team back together, and Sam [Raimi, director of the sequel] made me sort of the leader for this film, and, you know, I just think his work is so extraordinary and has been for so long. So it was very, very exciting, and I think people are really going to enjoy it.”
He was prescient apparently, because the movie went on to make $955 million at the box office, which eclipsed the $678 million for the first film. Venom is part of the Marvel Universe but not part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). It’s owned by Sony, who is trying to carve out its own universe with a number of Spider-Man villains.
Upcoming Sony Spider-Man films include the aforementioned Kraven, to be followed by El Muerto next year, a really obscure character reportedly played by pop star Bad Bunny. Then we’ll get a Madame Web movie. Who’s Madame Web? Exactly.
As for Ejiofor, he’ll be appearing in a movie he directed called Rob Peace and then he’ll be in the Netflix movie The Old Guard 2. We’ll keep you posted on developments.
