Andy Serkis really is directing Venom 2

By Sam Barsanti | August 5, 2019 | 9:57pm

Aux Features Film

Introducing Endless Mode: A New Games & Anime Site from Paste

Read our announcement | See the 10 Best Games of 2025 (So Far)

Photo: John Phillips

Back in July, we reported that Andy Serkis was one of the frontrunners to direct Sony’s Venom sequel, presumably because he has some experience with pulling believable characters out of hideous CG monsters (not that Venom is hideous, of course, because we know how badly some of you want to get down with him), and now The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed it: Andy Serkis is officially directing Venom 2. This will only be Serkis’ third directing gig, following 2017's Breathe and 2018's Mowgli: Legend Of The Jungle (the Jungle Book movie that didn’t have the “Bare Necessities,” if you will), but again, he has loads of experience with CG creatures after playing Gollum, Supreme Leader Snoke, and Caesar the ape, so there is certainly some logic here.

As for Venom 2, it’s been a poorly kept secret since last November, when Sony quietly put an untitled Marvel movie on its release schedule for 2020 just a few months after Jared Leto’s Morbius, and it was essentially confirmed in January when the studio hired screenwriter Kelly Marcel to put together a script. Also, Woody Harrelson will presumably be making good on his post-credits stinger cameo by appearing as Cletus Kasady—a.k.a. Carnage, who is like Venom but red and not sexy. Or maybe he is sexy? We don’t know, but we trust Andy Serkis to at least make sure that he doesn’t look silly.