There's been a lot of intrigue surrounding The Fantastic Four: First Steps' supporting cast, and while John Malkovich's Red Ghost has been left on the cutting room floor, Natasha Lyonne and Sarah Niles have remained a mystery to us. Well, until now, that is.
In the production notes for the Marvel Studios movie, it's revealed that Niles, best known for Ted Lasso and F1: The Movie, plays Lynne Nichols. According to scooper @MyTimeToShineH, she's the Future Foundation's chief of staff and only has a small role in the reboot.
Lyonne voiced the adult daughter of Howard the Duck and Darcy Lewis in What If...? season 3 (Byrdie), but plays another newly created character called Rachel Rozman in The Fantastic Four: First Steps.
We can tell you that she's introduced as a teacher on Yancy Street who strikes up a rapport with The Thing. There was speculation that Lyonne, who has impressed in Russian Doll and Poker Face, might be the MCU's Alicia Masters, but that is not the case.
"There were a lot of things that ultimately ended up hitting the cutting room floor," The Fantastic Four: First Steps director Matt Shakman recently explained. "When we were building a '60s retro-future world, introducing all of these villains, introducing these four main characters as a group, as well as individually, introducing the idea of a child - there was a lot of stuff to balance in this movie and some things had to go ultimately in terms of shaping the film for its final version."
"It was heartbreaking not to include [Malkovich] in the final version of the movie because he's one of my very favorite humans and one of my biggest inspirations," he continued. "As a person who walks the line between theater and film and television, there's no one who is more inspiring than the founder of Steppenwolf Theater Company."
"What he's done on stage as an actor and what he's done as a director in theater as well as in film, and as just a film actor of incredible ability - I was honored he came to play," Shakman concluded.
Malkovich was featured in the first trailer for The Fantastic Four: First Steps, and it's unclear whether we'll eventually get to see what he brought to the table as Red Ghost in an officially released deleted scene.
Stay tuned for more on the next MCU movie as we have it.
Set against the vibrant backdrop of a 1960s-inspired, retro-futuristic world, Marvel Studios' The Fantastic Four: First Steps introduces Marvel’s First Family—Reed Richards/Mister Fantastic (Pedro Pascal), Sue Storm/Invisible Woman (Vanessa Kirby), Johnny Storm/Human Torch (Joseph Quinn) and Ben Grimm/The Thing (Ebon Moss-Bachrach) as they face their most daunting challenge yet.
Forced to balance their roles as heroes with the strength of their family bond, they must defend Earth from a ravenous space god called Galactus (Ralph Ineson) and his enigmatic Herald, Silver Surfer (Julia Garner). And if Galactus’ plan to devour the entire planet and everyone on it weren’t bad enough, it suddenly gets very personal.
Paul Walter Hauser, John Malkovich, Natasha Lyonne, and Sarah Niles have been cast in supporting roles. Robert Downey Jr.'s Doctor Doom is rumoured to appear, though that's surely a given with Avengers: Doomsday on the way.
Director Matt Shakman worked with both Avatar: The Way of Water co-writer Josh Friedman and WandaVision's Cam Squires on The Fantastic Four: First Steps' screenplay, with Eric Pearson (Black Widow) later coming on board for a final polish.
The movie is set to be released in theaters on July 25, 2025.