Citing last year’s strikes and scheduling conflicts as the main reasons for the departure, ‘The Walking Dead’ actor says he still wants to ‘do a Marvel movie’ in the future; ‘Thunderbolts’ hits theaters July 25, 2025.
Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead, Invincible) has officially stepped down from an unknown role in Marvel’s upcoming feature, Thunderbolts.
The actor cited last year’s SAG-AFTRA strikes and scheduling conflicts as the main reasons for his departure when he spoke to Variety on Wednesday. The film has yet to resume filming after production was paused in May due to the strikes.
“I think for me, time passing and things shifting kind of pulled me out of it,” Yeun explained. “But Jake [Schreier], I know, is going to do an incredible job.”
“I wanna do a Marvel movie,” he added.
Thunderbolts is a theatrical crossover event following a group of supervillains recruited to go on missions for the government in hopes of redemption, similar to the concept of DC’s Suicide Squad. The film stars Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova; Harrison Ford as Thaddeus ‘Thunderbolt’ Ross; David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov, aka Red Guardian; Wyatt Russell as John Walker; Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine; Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov, aka Taskmaster; and Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr, aka Ghost.
Schreier directs from a script by Kurt Busiek, Lee Sung Jin, and Eric Pearson. Brian Chapek and Matthew Jenkins executive produce, while Kevin Feige produces. Studios creating VFX for the film include Crafty Apes and The Third Floor, while Jake Morrison acts as visual effects supervisor for Marvel Studios.
Thunderbolts is set to hit theaters on July 25, 2025.
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