Thanks to the record breaking success of Deadpool, the followup has become one of Hollywood's most anticipated sequels. Ryan Reynolds, the man behind the Merc with a Mouth, teased fans at the conclusion of his first solo film that he already had his eyes on bringing Cable into the fold for Deadpool 2. Since that point in time, there has been no shortage of names thrown into contention, but Fox, Reynolds, and company have yet to finalize their decision.

Recently, it was revealed that Stranger Things star David Harbour is currently testing for the role, making him the only name to be released so far to have made it that far into the process. This came on the heels of Deadpool's creator Rob Liefeld tossing Russell Crowe's name into the Cable pool, but it has now been revealed that one Man of Steel star was once eyed as well.

During their coverage of the Harbour news, Collider revealed that at one time Michael Shannon was in the mix. The reason for him no longer being in the running is reportedly due to scheduling conflicts. He has a number of projects in post-production, so the press dates for any of these could be the reason behind his schedule being so full.

Cable holding two guns in Marvel Comics.

Shannon is no stranger to comic book movies after previously playing Zod in Man of Steel and again briefly in Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice. With there appearing to be no future for him in the DCEU (as Zod already died and his corpse used to make Doomsday - which also died), there is no real rational reason behind anybody not wanting Shannon in the role, if he could have landed the part.

He is currently riding high off an awards season where he saw much praise for his role in Nocturnal Animals. While it was his co-star Aaron Taylor-Johnson who won the Golden Globe, Shannon supplanted him in the mind of Academy voters. Although he was nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor, Mahershala Ali won for Moonlight.

With Shannon no longer being in the running for Cable, it will be interesting to see what other names pop up in addition to Harbour. Shannon is a high profile actor just as many of the previous names that have been considered. Shannon is clearly interested in joining these bigger franchises after turning down roles in the MCU and Star Wars. Of course, he may be attracted to many projects moving forward, so there is always the possibility Fox circles back around to him for a different role in the future.

Next: Stranger Things Star in Running for Cable

Source: Collider

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