Venom: The Last Dance may be ending a trilogy that started back in 2018, but like any good superhero movie, it’s also setting up a future franchise. In this case, that’s the introduction of Knull, an iconic (if relatively unknown) villain in the Marvel universe who plays a pivotal role in Venom 3 and will likely appear again in future movies according to Last Dance director Kelly Marcel.
“It's just an introduction to Knull,” Marcel tells Inverse. “It's a taster of Knull.”
Knull doesn’t get much screen time in Venom 3, but audiences will likely recognize his voice. The character is being portrayed by Andy Serkis, who directed the previous film, Venom: Let There Be Carnage. While rumors of the casting have been swirling for weeks, a new trailer released over New York Comic-Con weekend confirmed the casting. According to Marcel, who reveals it was her choice to cast Serkis, she never even considered anyone other than the actor behind iconic motion-capture characters like Gollum and Caesar.
“There isn't a better voice actor than Andy Serkis,” Marcel says, adding that “because Knull is mocap and CGI” it was an obvious choice. “And so it was always him.”
The director, who also wrote the screenplays for the previous two Venom movies, first got the idea while working on Let There Be Carnage, which was directed by Andy Serkis. She recalls discussing it with franchise star Tom Hardy back then.
“When he was directing Venom 2, we were behind the scenes going, ‘Andy's got to a play Knull,’” Marcel says. “He's part of the Venom family. We love Andy, he's amazing to work with. He's one of the nicest men on the planet but somehow can turn on these really horrifying dark characters. So yeah, it was always him.”
Coming up with the idea was one thing, but actually asking Serkis to take on the rule was another. Marcel recalls the moment it finally happened and how he responded to the request:
“We had finished Venom 2,” she says. “I was in prep for Venom 3. I went out to see Andy — we’re mates — and he was with Woody Harrelson that night as well. And I asked him and he was like, ‘Yeah!!!! Yeah!’ He was very excited.”
Stay tuned for the rest of our interview with Venom 3 director Kelly Marcel, coming later this week.
