Steven Yeun Speaks Out on His THUNDERBOLTS Exit, Says He Still Wants to Make a Marvel Movie
It was recently revealed that Steven Yeun has exited Marvel’s Thunderbolts, in which he was attached to play The Sentry. The actor has now addressed his departure in a recent interview with Variety and confirmed that the Hollywood strikes were one reason behind his decision to drop out of the Marvel movie. He explained:
“I think for me, time passing and things shifting kind of pulled me out of it. But Jake [Schreier], I know, is going to do an incredible job.
It took a lot of drafts on email to make sure that I conveyed the sincerity of how sorry I was to have to back out.”
He went on to say, “I wanna do a Marvel movie,” but isn’t sure when or if the opportunity will present itself again. When asked which Marvel movie he would like to work on in the future, he said:
“I think it’s too early to say that. I probably pissed off too many people leaving, so I’m just gonna say, ‘Thank you for having me.'
“I have some ideas. But I heard if you put it out there, you’ll never get it, so I’ll keep it close to my chest.”
It’s a bummer that Yeun had to drop out of the film, but he’s obviously got other projects lined up that he’s a little more passionate and excited about doing. Thunderbolts paused production in May due to the WGA strike and has yet to begin filming again.
The cast of Thunderbolts includes Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes who will be leading the team, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Julie Louis-Dreyfus as Contessa Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Wyatt Russell as US Agent, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster, and of course, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova. Then there’s Harrison Ford, who is taking on the role of General Thaddeus "Thunderbolt" Ross who is going to be President of the United States in Captain America: New World Order. Ayo Edebiri also joined the cast in an undisclosed role.
The film is being directed by Jake Schreier (Paper Towns, Kidding), from a script by Lee Sung Jin (Beef), Eric Pearson (Thor: Ragnarok, Black Widow), and Kurt Busiek. Thunderbolts is currently set to be released in theaters on July 25, 2025.