Riz Ahmed Is Pretty Sure He’s Done with Star Wars, Venom and the Spider-Man Universe
Venom star Riz Ahmed has confirmed that he will not be returning for Sony’s upcoming sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, and for very good reason. While discussing his role in the first movie, Ahmed addressed whether his corporate villain-turned-symbiotic monster, Carlton Drake AKA Riot, would make a comeback in this year’s highly anticipated follow-up.
“I think I’m done in Venom. It’s pretty conclusive. Dude got blown up in a spaceship.”
Drake was indeed blown up during the finale of 2018’s Venom, and while Ahmed is convinced that this signifies the end for him in this particular franchise, comic book fans will know that crazier resurrections have happened. For now at least, it certainly sounds like he won’t be included in Venom: Let There Be Carnage, which is probably a good thing considering that the extra-terrestrial antihero and his human companion will already have a lot to deal with.
Oddly, Venom is not the only franchise in which Ahmed’s character was blown up, with the actor also dashing hopes that he would return to Star Wars in the Disney+ series, Andor. When asked if there are plans to bring him back into the fray Ahmed replied, “I just haven’t heard of that, to be honest.”
The first Venom introduced audiences to Tom Hardy’s crusading journalist Eddie Brock as he tries to take down Riz Ahmed’s Carlton Drake, the CEO of the shady corporation the Life Foundation. While investigating questionable experiments and illegal human trials, Brock is unwittingly merged with a symbiotic alien with lethal abilities and a real temper. The two share a peculiar bond, but over the course of the movie, this becomes an inspiring cross-species bromance for the ages.
The sequel, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, will bring back Woody Harrelson, who appeared very briefly in a Venom post-credits scene as the murderous criminal Cletus Kasady. A psychotic serial killer who has been incarcerated for some time, the movie will find Kasady obtain his own alien symbiote, and together they will become the evil supervillain known as Carnage.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage is being directed by Lord of the Rings star Andy Serkis from a screenplay by Kelly Marcel, and stars Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock/Venom alongside Woody Harrelson, Michelle Williams, Reid Scott, and Naomie Harris. The sequel is currently scheduled to be released in the United States on June 25, 2021, after being delayed from an initial October 2020 release date due to the ongoing global situation.
While Venom may not meet Riot on screen again, fans are very hopeful that the Marvel villain will eventually come face-to-face with Tom Holland’s Spider-Man. While nothing has been confirmed, clues in upcoming Sony outing Morbius have teased that this cinematic universe and the MCU are the same, thanks in large part to the inclusion of Spider-Man: Homecoming’s Michael Keaton, who is reprising the role of Adrian Toomes AKA Vulture alongside Jared Leto’s Michael Morbius.
Back in 2019, Venom director Ruben Fleischer hinted at an eventual crossover between Venom and Spidey saying, “That’s where it’s all going to lead. And that’s the exciting thing, because we changed the origin of Venom … In the comics, he evolved from Spider-Man but because of the Marvel-Sony thing we weren’t able to that. And so the thing I think it’s building towards, and will be exciting to see, is when they actually do confront each other.” This comes to us from The Hollywood Reporter.
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