Geraldine Viswanathan Replaces Ayo Edebiri In Marvel’s 'Thunderbolts'

Scheduling conflicts strike again as the anti-hero teamup film finally kicks up production

Ayo what’s going on now that production is resuming? Emmy-winning actress Ayo Edebiri has found herself having to depart from Marvel Studios’s Thunderbolts due to scheduling conflicts.

The pause production had to take as both writers and actors struck for a fair contract was pretty lengthy, and runs against projects that were probably already scheduled to start in this early part of 2024. Having won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Television Comedy and the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series as chef Sydney Adamu in FX and Hulu’s The Bear, Edebiri is the second in both winners’ classes to have had to drop out. Steven Yeun, whose wins came from his performances in Netflix’s limited series Beef, had to drop out of playing Sentry due to scheduling conflicts as well. It is not known who Edibiri would’ve been playing, but we know who’s replacing her in that role.

Actress Geraldine Viswanathan will now step into Edebiri’s role. Having broken out in the 2018 film Blockers, which also starred John Cena and Kathryn Newton, her subsequent credits include the final season of Miracle Workers and such films as Cat Person and The Beanie Bubble. She is set to star opposite Margaret Qualley in Ethan Coen’s Drive-Away Dolls and with Will Ferrell and Reese Witherspoon in Amazon’s You’re Cordially Invited. Edebiri is also known for starring in Bottoms and voicing April O’Neil in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, and her other TV roles include season 2 of Dickinson, taking on the main role of Missy on Big Mouth after Jenny Slate stepped down, and voicing Harriet Tubman in the two new seasons of Clone High, with the second releasing Thursday. She takes her Emmy victory lap by hosting Saturday Night Live this week, with Jennifer Lopez as the musical guest.

Thunderbolts will be directed by Jake Schreier and written by Lee Sung Jin, the creator of Beef, a script which builds off of a first draft by Black Widow screenwriter Eric Pearson. When filming does begin this March, Viswanathan joins Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes the Winter Soldier, David Harbour as Red Guardian Alexei Shostakov, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Wyatt Russell as John Walker the US Agent, Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr aka Ghost, Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov the Taskmaster, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Top Gun: Maverick’s Lewis Pullman, son of Bill, is in early talks to take on Sentry. Harrison Ford will continue playing (possible President) Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross following his debut in the role in Captain America: Brave New World. Originally set for release this July 26, Thunderbolts now releases on the same weekend next year, July 25, 2025.

Source: Deadline