Sony Eyeing Andy Serkis As Possible Venom 2 Director

Andy Serkis could be returning to a Marvel property with Venom 2, but this time he’d be behind the camera. THR reports that Serkis, who played Ulysses Klaw in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Black Panther, is one of the people being looked as a potential director for the sequel to 2018’s hit Spider-Man-based antihero film.

The first Venom was directed by Ruben Fleischer, but his work on Zombieland 2 caused him to back out of the sequel for scheduling reasons. THR notes that Serkis is one of several possible directors in the mix, and Sony is taking care in selecting the person who will helm the film.

While Serkis is known more for his acting — particularly in performance capture work like Lord of the Rings and Planet of the Apes — he has moved into directing in the last few years with 2017’s Breathe and the (non-Disney) Jungle Book adaptation Mowgli: Legend of the Jungle that hit Netflix late last year. Venom is expected to start production later this year with Hardy returning and Woody Harrelson expected to reprise his cameo role from the first as Cletus Kasidy, aka Carnage.