The Fantastic Four has found its villain!
Following that earlier casting news, The Hollywood Reporter has now learned that English actor Ralph Ineson has been cast in the highly coveted role of Galactus in Marvel Studios' upcoming The Fantastic Four.
He joins a cast headlined by 3x Primetime Emmy-nominee Pedro Pascal (Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic), Academy Award-nominee Vanessa Kirby (Sue Storm/Invisible Woman), Joseph Quinn (Johnny Storm/Human Torch), and Primetime Emmy-winner Ebon Moss-Bachrach (Ben Grimm/The Thing).
Rounding out the cast are 3x Primetime Emmy-winner Julia Garner (Shalla-Bal/Silver Surfer), Primetime Emmy-winner Paul Walter Hauser, and 2x Academy Award-nominee John Malkovich.
Plot details are currently be kept under lock-and-key at the Baxter Building, but we do know that the film will be set in the 1960s, during the same time period the super team was originally conceived. However, whether or not the new film takes place within the same Sacred Timeline remains to be seen. Either way, Galactus is slated to be the primary antagonist, with his Silver Surfer also playing a prominent role.
Casting has been really ramping up over the past several weeks, in anticipation of a huge production schedule this summer in England.
3x Primetime Emmy-nominated director Matt Shakman (WandaVision; Game of Thrones) is set to helm the upcoming feature, with a screenplay from Eric Pearson, Josh Friedman, Jeff Kaplan, and Ian Springer.
Kevin Feige will produce for Marvel Studios.
Ineson is likely best known to audiences for his work as Dagmer Cleftjaw in HBO's Game of Thrones and Amycus Carrow in the Harry Potter franchise. His more prominent roles have also included the BBC sitcom The Office, The Witch, HBO's Chernobyl, The Green Knight, Final Fantasy XVI, Kingsman: The Secret Service, The Huntman: Winter's War, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Ready Player One, The Northman, and The Creator, and many more. He also had a small role in James Gunn's Guardians of the Galaxy.
He can be seen next in Robert Eggers' Nosferatu later this year and is currently in the midst of filming Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein for Netflix.
Prior to this film, Marvel's first family featured in 2005's Fantastic Four, which starred Ioan Gruffudd, Jessica Alba, Chris Evans, Michael Chiklis and Julian McMahon. A sequel, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer soon followed, also introducing Galactus, but due to a less than ideal response, the third film in that series was cancelled.
20th Century Fox eventually rebooted the series with 2015's Fantastic Four, which starred Miles Teller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell and Toby Kebbell, but that proved to be a massive critical and commercial failure, so the franchise was sidelined yet again until Marvel Studio was able to reacquire the rights.
The Fantastic Four is expected to hit theaters on July 25, 2025!