Sony Pictures' highly-anticipated Venom keeps adding to its growing cast, with comedic actress Jenny Slate entering negotiations for a supporting role. While the character's identity has been kept under wraps, sources claim the actress will play a scientist in the film, but there is no indication just yet if this character is based at all on another character that has roots in the Marvel Comics. It's also unclear at this point how many more characters need to be added, but the cast is growing so fast that all of the roles may be filled soon.

Despite all of the recent casting updates, the Venom production keeps getting delayed, with a report from last month revealing that filming is now scheduled to begin on October 23. Production had initially been scheduled to begin in Atlanta on September 1, but the Spider-Man spin-off has reportedly had trouble finding key crew members, since two massive Marvel movies are currently shooting in the city, Avengers 4 and Ant-Man and the Wasp. Production is expected to begin concurrently in New York City as well on October 23, and with casting well under way, it seems Sony is finally ready to start filming in just a few weeks.

Jenny Slate joins a cast that includes Tom Hardy as Eddie Brock, who becomes the host of the symbiote Venom, with Riz Ahmed and Michelle Williams recently joining the cast in unconfirmed roles. There have been no shortage of rumors about these cast members as well, with Riz Ahmed rumored to be Carnage, who has already been confirmed as the primary villain, while another rumor claims that She-Venom may be introduced into this movie, which is who Michelle Williams has been rumored to play. It is worth noting that the original report about She-Venom revealed that the studio was seeking an actress between the ages of 25 and 32 to play She-Venom, a.k.a. Ann Weying, Eddie Brock's ex-wife and a successful lawyer, and both Michelle Williams (37) and Jenny Slate (35) are a bit out of that age range, but that initial report hasn't even been confirmed in the first place. Still, the report on Michelle Williams' casting said she was playing Eddie Brock's love interest who is also a lawyer.

Since there are several different versions of Venom in the comics, fans are wondering which version will be shown on the big screen this time around. Fans had previously seen Venom in the much-maligned Spider-Man 3, with Topher Grace playing Eddie Brock. This movie is said to focus on the Ultimate comic book version of Venom, where the Venom bio-suit was created by both the fathers of Peter Parker and Eddie Brock, to try and cure humanity from disease and illness, but they were both killed in a plane crash, deliberately created by their boss, Bolivar Trask, to gain control of the project. It isn't known how thorough this particular story will be adapted, or what liberties will be taken.

This summer, it was confirmed by producer Amy Pascal that both Venom and Silver and Black, featuring both Silver Sable and Black Cat will be set in the same universe as Spider-Man: Homecoming, which means it could be possible that Tom Holland (Peter Parker/Spider-Man) or other characters from this summer's blockbuster Spider-Man: Homecoming could be stopping by in Venom. Ruben Fleischer (Zombieland, Gangster Squad) is directing from a script by Scott Rosenberg (Jumanji), Jeff Pinkner (The Dark Tower) and Kelly Marcel (Fifty Shades of Grey). Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach are producing the movie, along with Amy Pascal, with Palak Patel and Eric Fineman overseeing the project for Columbia Pictures. Unfortunately, this report from Variety doesn't include any story details, but if production does in fact start in a few weeks, we should be hearing more soon. Jenny Slate most recently starred in Gifted, and has lent her voice to Despicable Me 3 and The LEGO Batman Movie as Harley Quinn.