Oscar Nominee and 'The Walking Dead' Star Steven Yeun Cast in Marvel's 'Thunderbolts' in Major Role

by Darian Scalamoni

    As Marvel begins ramping up production for their next slate of films, it's only a matter of time that we get more casting announcements for future projects. We reported back at the end of January almost a month to the day that Ayo Edebiri from The Bear would be joining Thunderbolts and now, we have another major casting addition. According to Justin Kroll over at Deadline, it appears that Steven Yeun (The Walking Dead, Minari) will be joining the film as well for what is being described as a "major role" not only in Thunderbolts but also moving forward within the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

    Yeun is joining what is already a stacked ensemble that in addition to Edebiri also includes Marvel staples such as Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Florence Pugh, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Wyatt Russell, Hannah John-Kamen and Olga Kurylenko. Majority of the actors within Thunderbolts have already been established as characters in the vast and detailed Marvel world, however, Yeun is no stranger to comic book fare. He is best known for his role in AMC's The Walking Dead as fan-favorite Glenn Rhee who appeared across 6+ seasons of the zombie-centered comic book adaptation. He also voices lead character Mark Grayson in the Amazon animated series Invincible which is based on the comic of the same name by Robert Kirkman, who also created The Walking Dead. 

    Thunderbolts will center around a group of villains or antiheroes coined as the titular gang who are commissioned by the government to run operations on secret missions. Many compare this group to The Suicide Squad which is set up at DC Studios by Guardians of the Galaxy director and new co-CEO of DC, James Gunn. The latest big budget Marvel adventure is directed by Jake Schreier with a script from Eric Pearson. Kevin Feige is of course, producing the pic that releases on July 26, 2024.

    Yeun was nominated for an Academy Award in 2021 for Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role for Minari which he also served as an executive producer. In that film, Yeun plays a Korean man who moves to Arkansas in the 1980s with his family to start a farm. He most recently starred alongside Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer in Jordan Peele's latest, Nope. He has a ton of projects in the works including Season 2 of Invincible for Amazon Prime Video, Bong Joon Ho's Mickey17, a romantic sci-fi film Love Me co-starring Kristen Stewart and a limited series for Netflix titled Beef in which Thunderbolts director Jake Schreier worked on as well. 

    What do you guys think of the news of Steven Yeun joining the MCU? What major role do you think he'll be playing within Thunderbolts and moving forward? Some rumors speculate he could be playing Sentry or Amadeus Cho. Who do you think Yeun will play? Sound off in the comment section and let us know!