Steven Yeun apologizes to fans for dropping out of Marvel’s Thunderbolts; Still wants to join the MCU

Update

The Walking Dead and Minari actor Steven Yeun wants to apologize to Marvel fans after he dipped out of starring in the upcoming ensemble flick Thunderbolts. Speaking with Variety’s Marc Malkin about exiting the superhero project, Yeun cited the SAG-AFTRA strike as one reason for bowing out of the anticipated film.

“I think for me, time passing and things shifting kind of pulled me out of it,” Yeun explained. “But Jake [Schreier], I know, is going to do an incredible job.”

“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,” Yeun adds.

While Yeun is leaving Marvel’s Thunderbolts behind, he’s still interested in joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe. “I wanna do a Marvel movie,” Yeun told Variety, though he did not specify which project he’d like to become a part of. “I have some ideas,” Yeun teased. “But I heard if you put it out there, you’ll never get it, so I’ll keep it close to my chest.”

Original Article

With filming on Marvel’s Thunderbolts slated to begin in the spring, the production just lost one of its stars, as Steven Yeun has exited the project. While Thunderbolts still has a pretty stacked lineup going for it, Yeun’s departure is just the latest problem that has hit the upcoming movie.

Steven Yeun was first announced as part of the Thunderbolts cast back in February 2023, quickly being listed as playing Sentry aka Robert Reynolds, a key figure in the team of antiheroes. It has been determined that Yeun left Thunderbolts due to scheduling issues. These, of course, would have popped up as a result of the ongoing Hollywood strikes, with the Writers Guild of America one launching the month before filming was set to begin, while the SAG-AFTRA strike, which concluded in November, only slowed things down further. With Thunderbolts now off his calendar, Yeun can at least focus on the upcoming releases of the Kristen Stewart co-headliner Love Me (headed to Sundance in just a few weeks) and Bong Joon-ho’s sci-fi film Mickey 17 (due out in March).

Even with Steven Yeun leaving Thunderbolts, the movie still has quite a solid cast, with the likes of Sebastian Stan (Bucky BarneS), Hannah John-Kamen (Ghost), Florence Pugh (Yelena Belova), David Harbour (Red Guardian), and Olga Kurylenko (Taskmaster) reprising their roles from past MCU entries. The movie will also star Wyatt Russell. On the project, Russell said, “I have confidence it’s gonna be good. I know everybody is sort of on this Marvel train right of things not going so well…It’s not a straightforward Marvel movie as you’ve seen in the past.”

Directed by Jake Schreier and written by Eric Pearson and Lee Sung Jin, Thunderbolts is part of Phase Six of the Marvel Cinematic Universe – although it had intended to be part of the in-progress Phase Five but missed that due to the aforementioned strikes. It has a current release date of July 25th, 2025, two months after The Fantastic Four hits theaters.

Are you upset that Steven Yeun is no longer starring in Thunderbolts? Who do you hope gets the chance to replace him? Give us your thoughts below!