Deadline has said that Pedro Pascal is "being eyed" for the role. No official casting announcement has been made.
The role would continue Pascal’s hot streak of iconic characters. His career first took off with his memorable turn as Prince Oberyn Martell on “Game of Thrones,” and then hit a new height when he was cast as the titular bounty hunter on “The Mandalorian,” the first “Star Wars” TV and inaugural series for Disney+. The 48-year-old actor was recently nominated for an Emmy for his performance on the ongoing HBO series “The Last of Us.”
“WandaVision” director Matt Shakman will helm “Fantastic Four.” He took over from Jon Watts, who directed all three of Marvel and Sony’s “Spider-Man” movies with Tom Holland, after Watts exited the film. “Fantastic Four” is scheduled to open May 2, 2025.
After months of speculation over who might play Reed Richards aka Mr. Fantastic in Marvel Studios‘ Fantastic Four, the wait may be finally over. While a deal is far from done, sources tell Deadline that three-time Emmy nominee Pedro Pascal is in talks to play the leader of the iconic superhero team.
Insiders add that scheduling is still being worked out, but multiple sources close to the negotiations are saying it’s headed in the right direction for Pascal to do this and his other future projects. Pascal has a full dance card that includes Gladiator 2, which is expected to go into production before the end of the year, as well as his popular HBO series The Last Of Us, which is expected to shoot next year as well as Zach Cregger’s Weapons.
Marvel Studios first scored the rights to the Fantastic Four in 2019, when Disney acquired 21st Century Fox. Prior to that, Marvel’s First Family — i.e., the first superheroes ever created for Marvel Comics by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby — headlined three movies for Fox: 2005’s original “Fantastic Four,” its 2007 sequel “Fantastic Four: The Rise of the Silver Surfer” and a 2015 reboot that was poorly received. The first cast included Ioan Gruffudd as Reed Richards, Jessica Alba as Susan Storm, Michael Chiklis as Ben Grimm and Chris Evans, before he went on to play the MCU’s Captain America, as Johnny Storm. The 2015 reboot cast included Miles Teller, Kate Mara, Jamie Bell and Michael B. Jordan, who also went on to star in the MCU’s “Black Panther” films, in those same respective roles. (In 1994, producer Roger Corman and German production company Constantin Film infamously shot a low-budget “Fantastic Four” movie in order to keep the rights to the property, but it was never released in theaters.)
Marvel had no comment.
As for other members of the team, that can now be worked out as it was essential to figure out who would be playing Richards before they could go out with offers to others. The hope would be to shoot early next year, so expect this cast to fill out quickly with director Matt Shakman currently in pre-production at Pinewood Studios in England. Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige will produce.
Pascal has been on quite the run in recent years including his Emmy-nominated role in the hit HBO series The Last of Us (he was also nominated for hosting Saturday Night Live, which was one of the more popular episodes of last season). He also has Zach Cregger’s next film Weapons.
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