Kraven the Hunter has found another star.
According to Deadline, White Lotus' Fred Hechinger will play Sergei Kravinoff/Kraven the Hunter's half-brother Dmitri Smerdyakov, better known as Chameleon. Aaron Taylor-Johnson is playing the eponymous Spider-Man villain.
Created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko, Chameleon debuted in 1963's The Amazing Spider-Man #1, making him one of Peter Parker's oldest foes. The character, as his name implies, is a master of disguise, and it's worth noting he appeared in Spider-Man: Far From Home, albeit with a different spelling (Dimitri instead of Dmitri) and a different actor (Numan Acar).
It's unclear at this time just how much Chameleon will factor into the plot of Kraven the Hunter, though in June 2021, it was reported that he'd be a major character in the movie.
Kraven the Hunter has been in various stages of development for years. Things picked up steam in 2018 when Richard Wenk was tapped to pen the screenplay (he's since been joined by Art Marcum and Matt Holloway), with director J.C. Chandor joining Kraven in 2020. The biggest leap forward came in May 2021, when Taylor-Johnson signed on to play Kraven.
It's still unclear how Kraven the Hunter will connect to Sony's other Marvel movies. "We don't really think of our 900 characters as the Spidey-verse," Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group President Sanford Panitch said in 2021. "We have a Marvel universe. The volume of characters we have -- you know, wait until you see this next Venom. You don't miss Spider-Man... It'll be exciting if they do meet, right? "There actually is a plan. I think now maybe it's getting a little more clear for people where we're headed and I think when No Way Home comes out, even more will be revealed."
No Way Home, of course, opened up the floodgates for the Multiverse, with Andrew Garfield and Tobey Maguire's Spider-Men fighting alongside Tom Holland's Peter Parker in a battle against Doctor Octopus, Green Goblin, Electro, Lizard and Sandman from past Spider-Man franchises. Though all toys were seemingly put back in the toybox by the film's conclusion, there have been rumblings about sub-franchises spawning out of No Way Home to allow the villains from Sony's movies to clash with a Spider-Man of their own.
Kraven the Hunter arrives in theaters Jan. 13, 2023.
Source: Deadline