With the SAG-AFTRA strike finally over, we're expecting a lot of big casting news to break in the coming weeks (if not days). James Gunn needs to finish putting together Superman: Legacy's ensemble after choosing the reboot's leads, of course, but it's Fantastic Four we know many of you are most interested in.
According to John Rocha and Jeff Sneider on The Hot Mic podcast, the actors who will play Marvel's First Family in the MCU should be announced by the end of next week.
Sneider reiterates recent claims that Spider-Man: Far From Home star Jake Gyllenhaal is the current frontrunner to play Mister Fantastic, with Vanessa Kirby likely to take on the role of the Invisible Woman. Ebon Moss-Bachrach may be a lock for The Thing, though plans for the Human Torch remain unclear.
His co-host, however, has heard that one of the actors who was eyed for Reed Richards very early on is once again interested after reading the latest draft of Fantastic Four's screenplay. This person is supposedly used to sharing the spotlight with female leads and that sounds an awful lot like Adam Driver to us. We'll see.
The big news, however, is that Marvel Studios is looking to cast a woman as Galactus' Herald: a gender-swapped version of Silver Surfer who, yes, will be a woman.
There has been a female version of the character on the page (called Juno), though we're guessing the MCU's version could be a mashup of Norrin Radd and Frankie Raye. The latter was a supporting character in the Fantastic Four comics who later became the Herald known as "Nova."
Fantastic Four director Matt Shakman recently teased his approach to the movie by saying he plans on "doing things very differently from a story standpoint" and "[a] filmmaking standpoint that really fits the material." He'd go on to add, "I think it's going to be unlike anything you've seen before, and certainly unlike anything at Marvel that you've seen before."
"It's a dream of mine to be able to work on that. I've loved those characters since I was little. It's such an awesome world to be in. The script is awesome, the characters are brilliant. I'm super excited."
Shakman has worked with both Avatar: The Way of Water co-writer Josh Friedman and WandaVision's Cam Squires on a draft of Fantastic Four's screenplay.
The movie is currently scheduled to be released in theaters on May 2, 2025.