Sebastian Stan to play young Donald Trump in The Apprentice; Jeremy Strong, Maria Bakalova also onboard

Deadline reports that Sebastian Stan has signed on to play Donald Trump in The Apprentice, a new film set to be directed by Ali Abbasi (Holy Spider).

The Apprentice will follow the future U.S. President from his twenties through his late thirties and will “examine his efforts to build his real estate business in New York over the course of the ’70s and ’80s, also digging into his relationship with infamous attorney Roy Cohn.” The outlet adds that the project is “billed as an exploration of power and ambition set in a world of corruption and deceit. It’s a mentor-protege story that charts the origins of an American dynasty.” Succession‘s Jeremy Strong is onboard to star alongside Stan as Roy Cohn, with Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3‘s Maria Bakalova also signed on to play Ivana Trump.

The project will be penned by Gabriel Sherman, whose book The Loudest Voice in the Room inspired the Showtime series starring Russell Crowe as Roger Ailes. Although Deadline broke the news, Variety‘s report states that the title of the film is The Student rather than The Apprentice.

Sebastian Stan has played more than a few real-life figures throughout his career, including Tommy Lee in Hulu’s Pam & Tommy limited series, Jeff Gilooly in I, Tonya, and, most recently, Robinhood Markets CEO Vladimir Tenev in Dumb Money. The Craig Gillespie movie documented the GameStop saga and premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival earlier this year. Donald Trump will easily be the highest-profile real-life figure that Sebastian Stan has played.

The actor is also set to reprise his role of Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier in Marvel’s upcoming Thunderbolts movie. He will star alongside David Harbour as Red Guardian, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster, Wyatt Russell as John Walker/US Agent, Hannah John Kamen as Ghost, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Harrison Ford will also appear as Thaddeus “Thunderbolt” Ross, with the actor taking over the role played by the late William Hurt. Thunderbolts is slated to hit theaters on July 25, 2025.