Marvel Studios‘ upcoming Thunderbolts movie may be closing in on a replacement for Steven Yeun.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Top Gun: Maverick star Lewis Pullman is Marvel‘s “top choice” to replace Yeun in Thunderbolts. Apparently, the studio has already offered Pullman the role vacated by the Walking Dead alum. At this time, however, neither Pullman nor Marvel have commented on the matter.
The son of fellow actor Bill Pullman, Lewis Pullman made his feature film debut in 2017’s The Ballad of Lefty Brown. He subsequently appeared in movies like The Strangers: Prey at Night, Bad Times at the El Royal, and — of course — Top Gun: Maverick. His television credits include Prime Video’s Outer Range and Hulu’s Catch-22.
Pullman’s upcoming big-screen projects include Gary Dauberman’s Salem’s Lot remake and Dito Montiel’s Riff Raff.
Steven Yeun’s Marvel exit
Yeun boarded the cast of Thunderbolts in February 2023. Rumors soon surfaced claiming that the actor was attached to play Marvel’s Robert “Bob” Reynolds, better known as the Sentry. The Walking Dead co-creator Robert Kirkman, a close friend of Yeun’s, actually confirmed those rumors in November.
Earlier this month, however, news broke that Yeun had departed Thunderbolts due to a scheduling conflict. Despite his abrupt exit, the actor does still hope to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe at some point down the road.
“I think for me, time passing and things shifting kind of pulled me out of it,” Yeun told Variety. “But [director Jake Schreier], I know, is going to do an incredible job … I wanna do a Marvel movie … 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.”
What is Thunderbolts about?
Marvel Studios’ Thunderbolts centers on a ragtag team of anti-heroes and reformed villains. The lineup includes a number of established MCU stars — including Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier, Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr/Ghost, Wyatt Russell as John Walker/U.S. Agent, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova/Black Widow, David Harbour as Alexei Shostakov/Red Guardian, and Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov/Taskmaster.
Additionally, MCU newcomer Harrison Ford will appear as Thaddeus E. “Thunderbolt” Ross following his debut as the character in Captain America: Brave New World. Meanwhile, The Bear star Ayo Edebiri has been cast in an undisclosed role.
The aforementioned Schreier directs the film from a screenplay by Lee Sung Jin. Eric Pearson wrote a previous draft.
Thunderbolts opens in theaters on July 25, 2025.
