Steven Yeun still wants to do a Marvel movie, despite Thunderbolts departure
"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"
Steven Yeun has commented on his exit from Marvel's Thunderbolts, confirming that scheduling conflicts are the reason for his departure – but he hopes that this isn't the end of his MCU journey.
"I think for me, time passing and things shifting kind of pulled me out of it," Yeun explained to Variety. "But Jake [Schreier, director], I know, is going to do an incredible job."
Although Yeun's casting in the movie, which will center the titular team of antiheroes, was never officially announced by Marvel Studios, it was first reported back in February and Invincible creator Rober Kirkman revealed later in the year that Yeun would be playing the Sentry. It's still unknown whether the character, an all-powerful hero haunted by a dark side known as the Void, will be recast or cut from the film.
"I wanna do a Marvel movie," Yeun added. "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." But who would he like to play, now that the Sentry is no longer on the cards? "I think it’s too early to say that," he said.
"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."
As for Thunderbolt's remaining cast members, Florence Pugh is back as Black Widow's Yelena and Sebastian Stan returns as Bucky Barnes, alongside Wyatt Russell, David Harbour, Olga Kurylenko, Hannah John-Kamen, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who are also reprising their MCU roles, alongside Harrison Ford and Ayo Edebiri.
Thunderbolts is set to the big screen on July 25, 2025. In the meantime, make sure you're up to date with the MCU with our guides to the rest of Marvel Phase 5 and what's to come in Marvel Phase 6.
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I’m an Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, covering everything film and TV-related across the Total Film and SFX sections. I help bring you all the latest news and also the occasional feature too. I’ve previously written for publications like HuffPost and i-D after getting my NCTJ Diploma in Multimedia Journalism.