Hot off his Beef Emmy nod, Charles Melton has reportedly entered final talks to join Destin Daniel Cretton’s Naruto, per The Hollywood Reporter. Cretton, who recently directed the biggest movie of the year, Spider-Man: Brand New Day, has been gearing up for a live-action film adaptation of the sprawling Naruto manga since 2024, following a lengthy development process at Lionsgate. The filmmaker is reportedly in final talks with Melton to play Kakashi, Naruto’s mentor.
The series follows a young ninja who aspires to become the leader of his village, and the global hunt for the live-action orange-clad Naruto is underway. Melton would play the Team 7 sensei who trains Naruto and his pals Sasuke and Sakura. Kakashi’s tragic backstory leaves him cold, but he was trained by Naruto’s father, so there is some room for growth between master and apprentice. Though Melton broke through on Riverdale and as the spring side of Todd Haynes’ May December, he was able to show off some of his fighting skills in Nicolas Winding Refn’s Her Private Hell.
Naruto is currently Cretton’s next project, with the Lionsgate production looking to start next February. However, with Spider-Man crossing the $2 billion mark in less than a month, we would assume Marvel wants to keep Cretton in-house. But they also still haven’t moved forward with a Shang-Chi sequel and canceled his briefly renewed Wonder Man show the weekend Brand New Day opened, so who knows which way the Marvel winds will blow.
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