Steven Yeun recently dropped out of Marvel Studios' upcoming Thunderbolts movie after a strikes-related delay resulted in a scheduling conflict. We may now know who the studio is lining up to replace him, and it's a fellow The Walking Dead alum!
According to both Daniel Richtman and rDCUleaks, Austin Abrams has the "current offer" to step into the role of The Sentry.
Abrams played Ron Anderson in the fifth and sixth seasons of the AMC zombie series, as well as Ethan Daley in Euphoria and Dash in Dash & Lily. He has also appeared in films such as The Kings of Summer, Paper Towns, Brad's Status, Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and Chemical Hearts.
CWGST also weighed in with the following:
It's worth noting that the character Yeun was going to play still hasn't officially been confirmed as the Sentry, but The Walking Dead and Invincible creator Robert Kirkman did say the following during a 2023 interview.
“Yeah, he called me, he went in for a costume fitting. I hope I’m not… I don’t think this is a spoiler or anything that will get anybody in trouble. I don’t know, maybe. We’ll see. I don’t care. I don’t work for Marvel. What are they going to do to me? He called me and he said, 'I just came back from a costume fitting for the Sentry. I guess I only do superheroes that are yellow and blue.' He said he was at the costume fitting and was like, 'Aww, crap. I forgot Invincible was yellow and blue.'"
We have heard that filming is currently scheduled to begin in March, and casting is also underway for "a high-tech militia group that the Thunderbolts are going to fight in the film."
Though other characters might well be added, the Thunderbolts roster consists of Red Guardian (David Harbour), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), John Walker/U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko).
Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julie Louis Dreyfus) will put the team together, and may also be partially responsible for Sentry's creation. Harrison Ford will replace the late William Hurt as Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross, who may wind up transforming into the Red Hulk.
Ayo Edebiri (The Bear, Bottoms) has reportedly been cast as a character named Erin, who is Allegra de Fontaine's assistant. Erin is said to be "exceptional at her job, even surprising Val with how good she is at getting things done."
Jake Schreier (Robot and Frank, Dave) is set to direct, with Black Widow scribe Eric Pearson penning the script.