It’s official: Andy Serkis will direct Venom 2

After reportedly cycling through dozens of big names, Sony has finally landed on a director to replace Ruben Fleischer at the helm of the upcoming sequel to Venom: Andy Serkis.

Venom fans, rejoice! After months of looking, Venom 2  finally has found its director, and he’s got some pretty impressive credentials under his belt. Though you may know him better from acting in films like Black Panther, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, and both Tolkien trilogies, Serkis has more recently been working behind the camera as well. Serkis made his directorial debut with 2017’s Breathe, and more notably directed the recent Netflix Jungle Book adaptation Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle. 

Though his name has floated around in rumors for several months now, the news seemed to be confirmed when Tom Hardy posted (then subsequently deleted) a picture of Serkis on Instagram.

While Hardy’s Instagram post fueled the fire, Serkis later took to Instagram himself to confirm the news with his own post:

With the confirmation of Serkis’ involvement, we’ve added to the list of information about the upcoming sequel. Tom Hardy, of course, will be returning as the lead, pulling double duty as both journalist Eddie Brock and the voice of the Venom symbiant itself. Beyond Hardy, it’s unclear if the rest of the cast, which included Michelle Williams and Reid Scott, will be returning for the next installment. However, if the post-credit scene is to be believed, the film will introduce Woody Harrelson as Cletus Cassidy/Carnage, a villain who squared off with Venom on numerous occasions in the comics. Venom 2 is currently in pre-production, and Sony has said they hope to begin shooting this fall.

How do you feel about Andy Serkis directing Venom 2? Are there any cast members/characters from the first movie that you hope to see return in the sequel? Sound off in the comments below.