Summary

Steven Yeun was originally set to join the MCU in the Thunderbolts movie but confirms he has left the project due to scheduling issues. Delays caused by the 2023 writers’ and actors’ strikes are a major reason for Yeun’s departure alongside the pushback in filming and release date. Yeun previously teased his role in Thunderbolts and hinted that it would be a major and interesting character to explore. The hot rumor was that he would play Marvel’s version of Superman, Sentry.

Steven Yeun has responded to the recent news that he has dropped out of the upcoming MCU movie, Thunderbolts, confirming that it was indeed due to scheduling conflicts and the impact caused by strikes. Speaking with Variety, Yeun, who was reportedly due to play the superhero Sentry, says he would still love to join the Marvel franchise in the future.

“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. I wanna do a Marvel movie.”

Continuing, Yeun says that the decision did not come lightly, and that it took a lot of email drafts to convey “the sincerity of how sorry” he is to be walking away.

“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.”

As for what Marvel project Yeun might be interested in joining down the line, the actor thinks “it’s too early to say.”

“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.”

Beef and The Walking Dead star Steven Yeun was originally set to join the MCU in the upcoming Thunderbolts movie. However, despite the actor originally being incredibly enthusiastic about joining the franchise, it was recently reported that Yeun has left the project. As per The Hollywood Reporter, Yeun has parted ways with the movie. While there was no specific reason given at the time, we now know the delays caused by the writers’ and actors’ strikes in 2023 is one of the major reasons, with Thunderbolts having been given a big pushback in filming and its release date. The movie was originally set to be released in July 2024, but was subsequently delayed a year to July 2025, and filming is yet to get underway.

Previously, Yeun teased his upcoming role in the movie back in June. At the time, he shared how his casting came about with The Hollywood Reporter, explaining why he decided to add his name to the Marvel roster and hinting that his role in Thunderbolts was set to be a major one.

It kind of came together in a weird way. Jake Schreier, who did episodes of Beef, he got the gig to direct it. He kind of saw me for this role. I read the role and I was like, ‘This is actually a really interesting role. I’d be down to explore this.’

While it was not been confirmed in any official capacity at the time, the hot rumor circulating about Yeun’s role in Thunderbolts was that he would portray Marvel’s version of Superman, Sentry. An all-powerful superhero who suffers from dissociative identity disorder and therefore has two psyches living inside his head – one being the benevolent superhero Sentry and the other being the hostile supervillain Void, playing Sentry would certainly be “interesting” and give the actor a lot to “explore.”

Yeun has teased the intrigue of the character he will play in Thunderbolts before saying, “I don’t know if it was explicitly on my bucket list, it was more the story, getting to work with Jake Schreier again, who directed Beef, and what his intentions were. The intentions of the particular character that they wanted me to play were very clear, and that’s what drew me to the film.”

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Thunderbolts Hit Pause Amid the Writers Strike
Thunderbolts Release Date July 26, 2024 Writers Kurt Busiek , Eric Pearson

Thunderbolts will come as part of Phase Six of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and will follow the titular group of heroes and antiheroes. A group that includes Bucky Barnes (Sebastian Stan), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), U.S. Agent (Wyatt Russell), Valentina Allegra de Fontaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), Red Guardian (David Harbour), and Taskmaster (Olga Kurylenko).

While filming had been scheduled to begin, production on Thunderbolts was paused amid the ongoing Writers Guild of America strike. The big screen outing was not the only MCU project to halt production, with the likes of the Disney+ series Wonder Man starring Aquaman’s Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and the reboot of Blade also stopping until the writers’ strike, and the subsequent actors’ strike, came to an end.

Alongside Thunderbolts, the rest of Phase Six of the MCU includes Fantastic Four, Blade, and the two Avengers sequels.

Directed by Jake Schreier and written by Eric Pearson and Lee Sung Jin, Thunderbolts is currently scheduled to land in theaters on July 25, 2025, as part of Phase Six of the MCU.