Following her breakout performances in HBO’s Euphoria and The White Lotus season 1, Sydney Sweeney became one of the most sought-after actresses last year. After considering a variety of options, the actress decided to join the upcoming film Madame Web, from Sony Pictures and focused on the character from Marvel Comics, which had already enlisted Dakota Johnson to star.
It looks like a new rumor from The Hot Mic Podcast has an update with specifics on who Sydney Sweeney is set to play in the highly anticipated comic book feature. The film is currently in post-production, and so far, there are more questions than answers surrounding the film.
Details on Sweeney’s character, much like the plot of the movie, have remained tightly under wraps, but something might have slipped through the cracks. Beware that the following might contain minor spoilers for Madame Web, though we fully expect this to be revealed during the marketing campaign.
Who is Sydney Sweeney playing in Madame Web?
During the most recent episode of The Hot Mic podcast, senior industry reporter Jeff Sneider shared that he’s been reliably told that Sweeney will be playing Spider-Woman in Madame Web. Multiple characters in the Marvel pantheon have donned the Spider-Woman mantle, and Sneider wasn’t sure which one the actress will be playing — he speculated that it might be Julia Carpenter, given that previous rumors had pointed to that iteration, but he can’t guarantee that.
Looking a bit further into the future, one might also wonder if Madame Web will lead to further appearances for Sweeney in the Marvel/Sony universe. Sydney Sweeney is soon to become, if she hasn’t already, a Florence Pugh or Zendaya-level actress, both in talent and in the number of studios giving her blank checks and void scripts that will be modeled after her, so having her signed on as a potential prevalent character must be an opportunity too hard to pass up for Sony.
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They will certainly be interested in expanding that relationship into a solo film for the character. Olivia Wilde has been attached to direct a Spider-Woman film for a few years now. We assumed that the studio was waiting on Wilde to complete Don’t Worry Darling, which opened last September, but it’s been six months since then. It’s also possible that the studio is waiting for Madame Web to come out and properly set up the character and its standalone story. Sneider couldn’t say if Madame Web and Wilde’s film would be related but assumed it would be the case.
Moreover, Sydney Sweeney and Sony are very much in business together, with the former setting up multiple projects at the studio over the past year. They include a Barbarella remake that Sweeney would star in and executive produce, which received a thumbs up from Sony execs without any other person attached, including a writer and/or a director; an adaptation of Madison Lawson’s The Registration, produced by Sweeney (who will also star) and Brad Fuller; and an untitled R-rated comedy starring the actress, Top Gun: Maverick‘s Glen Powell, and Tick, Tick… Boom!‘s Alexandra Shipp. This doesn’t prove that they will partner again for the standalone Spider-Woman film, but rather that it would be odd if they didn’t.
What else is coming from Sony and Marvel?
There is a lot in the pipeline from Sony Pictures adapting Spider-Man and adjacent characters into live-action and animated stories. In just three months, on June 2, they will be premiering Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, the first of two sequels to 2018’s Best Animated Feature winner at the Oscars, Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse. Interestingly enough, we will be getting Jessica Drew’s Spider-Woman in that film. The threequel, subtitled Beyond the Spider-Verse, will be coming out next March 2024.
On the live-action side of things, Aaron Taylor-Johnson’s Kraven the Hunter, from director J.C. Chandor and starring an all-star cast that includes Russell Crowe (Gladiator), Christopher Abbott (Girls), and Ariana DeBose (West Side Story), is scheduled to hit the screens this October 6. Madame Web, directed by S.J. Clarkson, coming out on February 16, 2024.
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Before that, though, Sony still maintains that they will be releasing El Muerto, starring world-famous singer Bad Bunny (Bullet Train), even though that film hasn’t even started principal photography yet. This is a great example of why Sweeney might be starring in her own Spider-Woman film — Sony was delighted with what they saw from Bad Bunny in Bullet Train last year and using their existing relationship with the singer-turned-actor, they gave him his own film. Filming could potentially begin later this year for a mid-2024 release.
In development, the studio has Venom 3, which Tom Hardy recently stated was in pre-production, possibly aiming at another October release date next year (following the pattern established by the last two), and Olivia Wilde’s Spider-Woman. We have no reason to believe that Wilde will not be involved, despite what may have happened on the set of Don’t Worry Darling or the poor critical reception of that film.
However, we also have yet to receive confirmation it is happening soon. The studio could be making some huge announcements during this April’s CinemaCon in Las Vegas, where last year they announced El Muerto and debuted new Across the Spider-Verse footage, besides showing off other titles. It was also where they screened the first full trailer for Venom back in 2018, and where we’ll likely get our next look at Kraven the Hunter.
In the meantime, stay tuned for more news regarding the Sony/Marvel films, and let us know what you think about Sydney Sweeney’s potential role in Madame Web on our social media. Do you believe this or are you taking it with a grain of salt for now? Are you excited for Madame Web, or did Morbius temper your expectations? (We recommend checking out Netflix’s Anatomy of a Scandal for reference of what SJ Clarkson can do behind the camera.) Let us know!
KEEP READING: New Madame Web Spoiler-Filled Report Reveals Spider-Woman, Ben Parker, & Peter Parker’s Mother & More
SOURCE: The Hot Mic podcast, ComingSoon
