Why Andy Serkis Isn’t Directing ‘Venom 3’ After ‘Let There Be Carnage’

Andy Serkis has explained why he’s not directing Venom 3 after working on its predecessor Let There Be Carnage.

Kelly Marcel is set to make her directorial debut with the third Venom movie after working as a screenwriter on the first two installment of the Sony Pictures series. Marcel was a surprising choice for the position given that the first two Venom movies were helmed by more experienced directors like Ruben Fleischer and Andy Serkis, with both of them expressing that they’d be open to return to the series.

While doing the press rounds for his work in the Disney Plus series Andor, Andy Serkis spoke with SlashFilm and revealed the reason behind his departure from the Venom series. During the interview, Serkis said that he he had a great time working on Venom: Let There Be Carnage but his schedule is currently filled with various other projects.

“Look, I had a ball doing [Venom: Let There Be Carnage]. Tom Hardy is such a good friend of mine, and I felt very proud of the work, and we had such fun doing it. To be the custodian of that franchise for a little while was great,” Serkis told the site. “I’ve got so many projects that I was just about to [work on], like ‘Animal Farm’ for instance. We were just about to go into production with that, and then we delayed as ‘Venom’ came up. I really have to be very on top of the ones that I’ve been building to do for such a long time.”

Meanwhile, Andy Serkis had nothing but great things to say about his successor Kelly Marcel. “I’m really delighted that Kelly’s doing that,” the filmmaker added. “She’s so in control of that material with Tom. The pair of them are such a great team to work with. I’m really excited to see what they’re going to come up with.”

Venom and its follow-up Venom: Let There Be Carnage earned a combined $1.36 billion at the worldwide box office. Following their release, Tom Hardy reprised his role as the anti-hero for the post-credits scene of Spider-Man: No Way Home, setting up the long-awaited debut of the Symbiote suit for Tom Holland’s Peter Parker.

Avi Arad, Matt Tolmach, Amy Pascal and Hutch Parker are producing Venom 3. The four were also involved with the first two Venom movies, which were directed by Ruben Fleischer and Andy Serkis. The third one does not yet have an official production start date.

In addition to the Venom movies, Kelly Marchel is also known for her work on Saving Mr. Banks, Fifty Shades of Grey and Cruella. Prior to those, Marcel created and served as the executive producer of the Fox television series Terra Nova.

Stay tuned for the latest news regarding the future of the Venom series and makes sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more content!

Source: SlashFilm