Venom: The Last Dance: Tom Hardy comments on ending the series with a bang – and maybe an R rating

A couple days ago, Sony Pictures unveiled a trailer for their Marvel Comics adaptation Venom: The Last Dance, giving us our first look at the film that’s meant to wrap up the Venom series and is aiming for an October 25th theatrical release. Now Forbes has published an interview with star Tom Hardy in which he talks about ending the series with a bang – and teased that this movie might have an R rating. (The previous two Venom movies were rated PG-13.)

Hardy told Forbes, “This one – I’m so, so excited about because we’ve gone much bigger. If the mission statement is commercial, blockbuster, action and superhero movie, how can we imbue a sense of something that’s fun and different? What’s going to entice people that they have a memory, they have a moment, they have an event? This comes from us who are really, really caring about this. By the third one, we’ve been given so much creative support to do – to push it. It’s a much wider piece and there’s much more love – not that there was not love in the last ones. We’ve been allowed to put more of our ideas into it and I’m really excited to see how they land. I think you got to swing for the fences with these things. It’s the last one and we want to go out with a bang, and lay the foundations for optionality and possibilities because it’s been such a great ride. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working within that field and remit of a big film with big ideas, and a lot of people looking to you to back that up.” The interviewer mentions that Hardy pointed to the success of the two Deadpool films as proof that R-rated Marvel adaptations can be successful.

When Hardy says “we” in there, he’s talking about himself and Kelly Marcel, who have collaborated on all three Venom movies. The first Venom was scripted by Jeff Pinker, Scott Rosenberg, and Kelly Marcel. Ruben Fleischer directed that film, which made $856 million. But then Fleischer turned his focus to making Zombieland: Double Tap and Uncharted – so Andy Serkis took over as director on Venom: Let There Be Carnage. Which was written by Kelly Marcel, working from a story she crafted with star Tom Hardy. That sequel earned $506 million at the pandemic era global box office. Serkis said he would be glad to return to the helm for a follow-up – but when Venom 3 actually did come up, he opted to focus on other projects instead. So Venom: The Last Dance marks the feature directorial debut of Kelly Marcel. She also wrote the screenplay, based (again) on a story she crafted with Hardy.

Hardy is reprising the role of Eddie Brock / Venom for Venom: The Last Dance, and he is joined in the cast by Juno Temple (Ted Lasso), Clark Backo (Letterkenny), and Chiwetel Ejiofor (Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness). Official details on the new characters have not been revealed – but no, Ejiofor is not playing his Doctor Strange character Baron Mordo, since the Venom films are set in a different universe than the Marvel Cinematic Universe films. There was a rumor that he might be playing Orwell Taylor, the leader of the group known as The Jury. As ComicBookMovie noted, “that group existed solely to take out Venom, with each member of The Jury outfitted in powerful armoured suits and tech based on Tony Stark’s designs. Throw in the fact that they had sonic blasters and flamethrowers, and it’s not hard to imagine the government tasking this clandestine group with taking out an apparent threat like Venom.” Members of The Jury in the comic book source material include Sentry, Bomblast, Firearm, Ramshot, Wysper, and Screech.

Here is the official synopsis from the studio: In Venom: The Last Dance, Tom Hardy returns as Venom, one of Marvel’s greatest and most complex characters, for the final film in the trilogy. Eddie and Venom are on the run. Hunted by both of their worlds and with the net closing in, the duo are forced into a devastating decision that will bring the curtains down on Venom and Eddie’s last dance.

Are you looking forward to Venom: The Last Dance, and would you like to see it end up with an R rating? Let us know by leaving a comment below.