Steven Yeun Apologizes for Leaving Thunderbolts: ‘I Wanna Do a Marvel Movie’

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Steven Yeun Apologizes for Leaving Thunderbolts: ‘I Wanna Do a Marvel Movie’

Steven Yeun is sorry that he had to step away from Marvel Studios‘ Thunderbolts.

On January 2, 2023, The Hollywood Reporter reported that The Walking Dead’s Yeun had dropped out of Marvel’s Thunderbolts. The article cited scheduling conflicts following the 2023 Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and Writers Guild of America (WGA) strikes as Yeun’s reason for departing the project.

Speaking with Variety, Yeun said “time passing” because of the strikes resulted in him no longer being able to star in the MCU movie.

“I think for me, time passing and things shifting kind of pulled me out of it,” Yeun said. “But Jake [Schreier], I know, is going to do an incredible job.”

He added, “I wanna do a Marvel movie.”

While Yeun’s casting in Thunderbolts was never officially confirmed by Marvel Studios, reports claiming that he would be in the movie began circling in February 2023. In November 2023, The Walking Dead and Invincible co-creator Robert Kirkman revealed that Yeun had indeed been cast as The Sentry/Bob Reynolds.

“It took a lot of drafts on email to make sure that I conveyed the sincerity of how sorry I was to have to back out,” Yeun further said of his departure.

When asked what Marvel movie he’d like to board in the future, Yeun said, “I think it’s too early to say that. I probably pissed off too many people leaving, so I’m just gonna say, ‘Thank you for having me.’…I have some ideas. But I heard if you put it out there, you’ll never get it, so I’ll keep it close to my chest.”

Who does star in Thunderbolts?

Directed by Schreier, Thunderbolts will star Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, Wyatt Russell as U.S. Agent, Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova, David Harbour as Red Guardian, Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster, and Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.

Thunderbolts is scheduled to release in United States theaters on July 25, 2025.