Venom was directed by Ruben Fleischer, but when he moved on to Zombieland: Double Tap and Uncharted, he was taken out of the running for Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Instead, the franchise was handed to Andy Serkis, and while his sequel was shockingly brief, it was a definite improvement over its predecessor.
After all, it was hard to not have fun seeing Venom and Carnage come to blows, and it sounds like Serkis had a good time making the movie. So, why isn't he returning for Venom 3?
Talking to Slash Film about his standout role in Andor, the actor and filmmaker explained, "Look, I had a ball doing [Venom: Let There Be Carnage]. Tom Hardy is such a good friend of mine, and I felt very proud of the work, and we had such fun doing it. To be the custodian of that franchise for a little while was great."
"I've got so many projects that I was just about to [work on], like Animal Farm for instance. We were just about to go into production with that, and then we delayed as Venom came up," Serkis continued. "I really have to be very on top of the ones that I've been building to do for such a long time."
As for what he thinks about Marcel - who wrote the first two movies and the upcoming third instalment - taking charge, he added, "I'm really delighted that Kelly's doing that. She's so in control of that material with Tom. The pair of them are such a great team to work with. I'm really excited to see what they're going to come up with."
We're certainly intrigued to see what she does behind the camera, and what direction this next instalment will head in. Carnage felt very much like the main event, but he's dead and gone, leaving only Toxin as the next logical choice of big bad (which, to be totally honest, feels a tad underwhelming).
While Venom 3 doesn't currently have a release date, Sony's Spider-Man Universe continues taking shape, with Kraven the Hunter set to be released on October 6, 2023, followed by El Muerto on January 12, 2024 and Madame Web on February 16, 2024.
Check out our interview with Serkis below: