A little over a week ago, it was announced that Robert Richardson, the cinematographer behind PLATOON, JFK, SHUTTER ISLAND, ONCE UPON A TIME IN HOLLYWOOD, and much more, had signed on to shoot the VENOM sequel for Andy Serkis. While speaking with Collider, the acclaimed cinematographer explained what drew him to to the superhero genre, and while doing so, he also seemingly confirmed that Woody Harrelson would be returning for the sequel.
I was looking forward to entering into that arena with Batman years ago with Ben [Affleck]. I thought, ‘Well this is something I haven’t done that I would love to try to do.’ And then Andy Serkis, who I worked with on Breathe, gave me a call a month ago and said that he was up for this and would I be willing. I’d seen the film. I watched it again, then they sent me a script and I felt like, yeah, I would say yes anyway to Andy just because I would say yes to Andy, but I also think it’s a great… I think it’s unexplored yet, and it’s going to explode, and this film, I think, will help it explode, because you have a remarkable central character with Venom, but now you’ve got Woody Harrelson, who’s going to obviously make his own little entrance here, and we’ll see what else comes in with the Sony Marvel collaboration. I look forward to it. It’s a massive change for me, but I’m excited. I think Hardy is one of our best. He never misses. I so look forward to sitting with him and watching him perform.
Woody Harrelson played Cletus Kasady, the man who will become Carnage, in a post-credit sequence in the first film, so it's only natural that he would return for an expanded role in the sequel. Robert Richardson also said that we shouldn't expect the sequel to look overly different to what we got in the first film, as he said that he'll be honouring what previous cinematographer Matthew Libatique did. "I do think that you have to honor what Matty did—you can’t not," Richardson explained. "We’re going to use locations that are already established. They’re going to be lit in what I hope is exactly the same way, so that you don’t feel that there’s a disconnect from that film to this film. In terms of the rest, that’s yet to be discussed because I haven’t yet sat with Andy in London."
Tom Hardy is naturally set to return as Eddie Brock/Venom, and it's expected that Michelle Williams will be back as well. It's still early days yet, but Andy Serkis said that he's already "got some very clear ideas about the journey I’d like to see visually and how we can take the characters into another dimension." VENOM 2 is expected to hit theaters on October 2, 2020.