Alessandro Nivola officially joins the cast of Kraven the Hunter as the film's villain.
As reported by Deadline, The Many Saints of Newark star joins cast members Aaron Taylor-Johnson, who will star in the title role, along with Ariana DeBose, Russell Crowe and Fred Hechinger. No further details about Nivola's role have been revealed.
While Sony Pictures did not reveal the details of Nivola's villainous role, it was recently confirmed that another villain had been cast in the film, with West Side Story's Ariana DeBose joining the Spider-Man spinoff as the voodoo priestess Calypso. The film also recently cast Fred Hechinger as Sergei Kravinoff, or Kraven the Hunter's half-brother Dmitri Smerdyakov, better known as Chameleon. Right now, it's unclear how either of these characters will factor into the plot of the film.
Kraven the Hunter has been in development for years, but in 2018 things began to progress after Richard Wenk was brought on to write the screenplay, with Art Marcum and Matt Holloway joining him later on. Another addition in Sony's Spider-Man villain universe, the spinoff is set to be directed by J.C. Chandor, who joined the project in 2020, with Taylor-Johnson as the lead character. However, it remains unclear how Kraven the Hunter will factor into Sony's larger Spider-Man universe.
"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."
Sony Pictures began its franchise of live-action Marvel spinoffs with films centered around Spider-Man villains, starting with 2018's Venom, with upcoming installments including Morbius, Madame Web and Kraven the Hunter. Sony recently added two "Untitled Sony/Marvel Universe" films to its 2023 release schedule, which are expected to release in theaters on June 23, 2023 and Oct. 6, 2023, respectively. At the time, fans speculated that one of those films could be the sequel to Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Along with the recently announced Madame Web, Sony is also rumored to be developing The Sinister Six and another film directed by Olivia Wilde, which is said to feature Spider-Woman.
Kraven the Hunter arrives in theaters Jan. 13, 2023.
Source: Deadline