Though we're pretty certain that Lewis Pullman is playing Sentry in Thunderbolts*, Marvel Studios has yet to make it official (and likely won't until the movie comes out), which means the actor is still unable to confirm his role during interviews.
Even so, the Salem's Lot star has managed to divulge some details while sidestepping anything too revealing, and spoke about his audition and the level of secrecy at Marvel during an interview with Variety.
It sounds like Pullman was surprised to get the opportunity to play Sentry(?) after The Walking Dead's Steven Yeun was forced to drop out of the role due to a scheduling conflict.
“It always felt like kind of an untouchable realm, kind of a cool kid’s table that I wasn’t sure if I’d ever get an invite to, or at least an invite to even try and be a part of,” Pullman says of the MCU. “And so it was a hell of an experience going out there and test screening. It felt like I was going into the FBI or something. It was all very locked and sealed.”
“They’re like, ‘You’re lucky to hold onto a set of sides for longer than an hour.’", he added. "There were shredders everywhere. But Jake Schreier, the director, sat down with me and he told me the story, but I couldn’t read any script or anything. It was cool. It was kind of old fashioned in that sense. It was like, ‘And now by the campfire, I will tell you the story of Thunderbolts.’”
In a recent interview with Total Film, Pullman was asked if "Bob" - who we caught a first glimpse of in the trailer - will ultimately become a villain and turn against our titular band of misfits.
"God, I would love to know. I genuinely, I don't know," he responded. "It's one of the exciting parts about being invited into the whole universe is there's a lot of unknowns, and you just kind of got to go with the flow and embrace the unknowns of it all."
"But I would enjoy going in either direction. I can say that," he added.
Of course, having filmed the movie, we're fairly sure Pullman does know - though he may be referring to how his character progresses over future films.
Based on what we've heard, it seems likely that Bob will be manipulated by Val into turning on his teammates, but we assume they will eventually gain his trust again - since we can't imagine how they could possibly bring him down otherwise!
We're still not sure what the addition of that asterisk to the title signifies, but a recent rumor claimed to shed a little more light on the mystery. It could be considered a spoiler, so click here if you want to know more.
Marvel Studios and a crew of indie veterans who sold out present Thunderbolts*, an irreverent team-up featuring depressed assassin Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) alongside the MCU’s least anticipated band of misfits. The film also returns to the screen Marvel Cinematic Universe characters Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Red Guardian (David Harbour), John Walker (Wyatt Russell), Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen) and Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), in addition to some exciting new faces.
Jake Schreier directs Thunderbolts*with Kevin Feige producing. Louis D’Esposito, Brian Chapek, Jason Tamez and Scarlett Johansson serve as executive producers. Marvel Studios’
Thunderbolts* opens in U.S. theaters on May 2, 2025.