Back in January, we learned that The Bear breakout Ayo Edebiri was set to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe when she landed an undisclosed role in the upcoming Thunderbolts movie.
Edebiri still hadn't confirmed or spoken about her involvement in the Phase 5 film, but while chatting to Backstage Magazine (interview took place before the strikes) about her voice-role as April O'Neil in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, she did express her excitement for the project and her MCU journey ahead.
“I love being a sponge. I just want to learn as much as possible. I’m excited [for ‘Thunderbolts’] because I don’t know; and to me, that’s cool. I feel like those are always the situations that I’ve benefited from the most. If I don’t know what I’m going to learn, that’s the best possible scenario for me.”
We still have no official details on Edebiri's character whatsoever, but we have heard that she might be playing the liaison between Val (Julia Louis-Dreyfus) and the team.
Though other characters might well be added, the Thunderbolts roster currently 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 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.
Jake Schreier (Robot and Frank, Dave) is set to direct, with Black Widow scribe Eric Pearson penning the script.
Production on Thunderbolts had been scheduled for June, but the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes caused delays, and Marvel Studios recently announced that the movie had been back from its original July 26, 2024 spot to December 20, 2024.