Vision showrunner Terry Matalas was a guest at this weekend's "Star Trek Las Vegas" convention and dropped a couple of exciting MCU updates during a Q&A with fans.
There have been rumblings for some time about Star Trek: Picard star Todd Stashwick (Starfleet Captain Liam Shaw) playing an assassin tasked with capturing the former Avenger, and Matalas has finally confirmed that he will play Vision's Paladin.
Created by writer Jim Shooter and artist Carmine Infantino, the character first appeared in Daredevil #150, and while he's not strictly a supervillain, his mercenary activities often bring him into conflict with characters like Spider-Man and The Punisher.
The biggest news to come out of Matalas's appearance is that Stashwick's Picard co-star, Orla Brady, will be taking over the role of F.R.I.D.A.Y. (in "human" form) from Kerry Condon. The F1: The Movie star lent her voice to Tony Stark's A.I. in Avengers: Age of Ultron, Captain America: Civil War, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame.
It's not clear why she isn't reprising the role physically in Vision, but in fairness, she denied the reports about that as recently as this past June.
"It's not true. I saw that and I was like, 'Who's saying these things?'" she said in a red carpet interview, adding that "there's no chance" it could happen, as "at the moment, it's not in the cards for me."
Whether it comes down to scheduling, money, or lack of interest, Condon won't be returning for Vision, and while the news is disappointing, it's arguably not the end of the world. Brady, who is also Irish, is a fine actor and has impressed in Picard as Laris/Tallinn. She also counts Into the Badlands and American Horror Story: 1984 among her credits.
Paul Bettany will reprise his role as Vision's title character, with James Spader set to return as Avengers: Age of Ultron's titular villain. Todd Stashwick and Faran Tahir, who is back as Raza from Iron Man, are also set to appear (as noted, the former is now confirmed as Paladin).
Recent weeks have seen T'Nia Miller cast as Jocasta, and Kerry Condon Orla Brady and Emily Hampshire enlisted for F.R.I.D.A.Y. and E.D.I.T.H., respectively. Ruaridh Mollica is expected to play a mystery character widely believed to be Tommy Maximoff.
Vision—or Vision Quest —is set to premiere on Disney+ in 2026.