When cameras were rolling on Captain America: Brave New World in 2023, former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins was spotted suited up alongside the rest of the Serpent Society.
Original plans called for the Marvel Studios movie to be released last summer. However, when the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes shut down Hollywood, the studio took the opportunity to make a series of sweeping changes, including adding Giancarlo Esposito's Sidewinder to the movie.
Unfortunately, outside of Rosa Salazar's Diamondback, it seems the rest of the villainous group will be left on the cutting room floor.
Talking to Chris Van Vliet, Rollins confirmed that he'll no longer appear in Captain America: Brave New World (rumour has it he was playing Cobra).
"It releases in February. I wish it the best, but I am not a part of that film. [What happened?] Well, does my NDA still apply if I'm not in the film anymore?" Rollins said. "Truth be told, any answer I gave would only be my opinion on it. The script went through a lot of rewrites and reshoots so what I was there to do, essentially my role got either repurposed or completely erased."
"So I did do a bit of an audition to possibly pop into another role, I believe, or the repurposing of my role, I'm not exactly sure on what it was, but they ended up going in a different direction with it," he continued. "And yeah my understanding was there were just a lot of rewrites and a lot of reshoots, and they know they've got a finished product that hopefully they're happy with, and hopefully it's successful, but it will be sans Seth Rollins."
We'd imagine that Rollins auditioned for Sidewinder before the decision was made to go with a bigger name in Esposito (that or another supporting role he wasn't the right fit for). It's hard not to feel for the WWE Superstar but Rollins is almost certainly not the only one who now won't make it into the finished cut.
It's previously been said that the Serpent Society's scenes were part of a major action set piece in Captain America: Brave New World's first act, similar to Steve Rogers and Black Widow's clash with Batroc in Captain America: The Winter Soldier. The new Faclon and Isiah Badley are also said to have been part of the sequence.
You can watch the full interview below (and be sure to visit TheRingReport.com for more WWE news).
In Captain America: Brave New World, after meeting with newly elected U.S. President Thaddeus Ross, played by Harrison Ford in his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut, Sam Wilson finds himself in the middle of an international incident. He must discover the reason behind a nefarious global plot before the true mastermind has the entire world seeing red.
The movie stars Anthony Mackie, Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Xosha Roquemore, Carl Lumbly, with Giancarlo Esposito, Liv Tyler, Tim Blake Nelson, and Harrison Ford. The movie is directed by Julius Onah and produced by Kevin Feige and Nate Moore. Louis D’Esposito and Charles Newirth serve as executive producers.
Captain America: Brave New World opens in U.S. theaters on February 14, 2025.