The cast of Kraven the Hunter is quickly taking shape. Following rumors that the Sony film was looking to cast Calypso, it's just been reported via Deadline that Ariana DeBose has just been cast as the Marvel character. She joins Aaron Taylor-Johnson who stars in the lead role as Kraven, one of Spider-Man's foes in Marvel Comics lore. The casting news comes after DeBose picked up a big win at the SAG Awards on Sunday night for her role in Steven Spielberg's West Side Story.
It was also recently reported that Fred Hechinger (The White Lotus) had boarded the project to play The Chameleon, another one of Spidey's villains. Russell Crowe is another cast member who will reportedly play one of Kraven's relatives. Calypso, who DeBose will be playing in Kraven the Hunter, serves as an ally and lover to Kraven in the original comic books. She is a voodoo priestess who utilizes magic potions and has her own confrontations with Spider-Man.
J.C. Chandor is directing Kraven the Hunter using a screenplay by Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, and Richard Wenk. Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach are producing. The film is a part of Sony's Spider-Man Universe that also includes the films Venom, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Morbius, and the recently announced Madame Web.
DeBose has been garnering a lot of acclaim for her role in West Side Story. She was also nominated for a Tony for her role as Disco Donna in Summer: The Donna Summer Musical and was featured with Lin-Manuel Miranda in the hit musical Hamilton as a member of the original cast; she was also in the Emmy-winning film adaptation released on Disney+. Her other credits include The Prom at Netflix and Schmigadoon! at Apple TV+. She will next appear in Matthew Vaughn's action movie Argylle alongside Henry Cavill, Bryan Cranston, Samuel L. Jackson, and Dua Lipa, as well as in Gabriela Cowperthwaite's space thriller I.S.S. with Chris Messina.
Kraven the Hunter's Journey to the Big Screen Has Been a Long Time Coming
There have been efforts for years to get a version of Kraven the Hunter into a live-action Spider-Man movie. Previously speaking with Collider, Tom Holland revealed how close his Spidey came to battling Kraven in Holland's third Spider-Man film. Jon Watts had apparently pitched Kraven as the villain to Holland at one point but those plans changed when the idea came up to introduce the multiverse with the different supervillains from alternate universes.
"For a long time, there was going to be a Kraven movie that was going to be the third movie because things weren’t working out and all sorts of different stuff," Holland said. "Jon pitched me this Kraven movie, which actually was really cool. I don’t want to talk about it in case that movie ends up happening down the line, but it was fun."
Now, the character will be getting his own solo movie, and it remains to be seen if he will end up meeting Spider-Man on the big screen. Kraven the Hunter will be released in theaters on Jan. 13, 2023.