Sony's Kraven the Hunter movie casts Ariana DeBose as the Marvel villain Calypso. The studio is moving forward with various plans to continue building its own Marvel universe based around Spider-Man characters. While Tom Hardy's Venom franchise is the only installment of this cinematic universe so far, there are plans for Morbius starring Jared Leto, Madame Web starring Dakota Johnson, and Kraven the Hunter starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson. The latter is finally starting to make substantial progress as the previously announced January 2023 release date is already less than a year away.
Plans for a movie based around the deadly Spider-Man villain known as Sergei Kravinoff have been in the works at Sony since 2018. The Kraven the Hunter movie took a big step forward in 2020 when Triple Frontier's J.C. Chandor was brought aboard to direct. In May 2021, Aaron Taylor-Johnson agreed to take on the lead role after previously playing Quicksilver in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Although news on the project went quiet shortly after that, Sony has been adding various cast members to Kraven the Hunter. Now, the movie has found its main female star and possible villain.
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According to Deadline, Sony has cast Ariana DeBose in Kraven the Hunter. Her role is not confirmed, but sources say that she will play Calypso, a voodoo priestess and Spider-Man villain in the comics. Ariana DeBose is fresh off her breakout role in Steven Spielberg's West Side Story, which earned her an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. In the comics, Calypso has been a love interest and villain for Kraven, but it is unclear which the Haitian voodoo master will be in Sony's movie. It was previously rumored that Jodie Turner-Smith would play Calypso, but now DeBose has landed the role instead.
Ariana DeBose's Calypso joins a growing cast of characters expected to appear in Kraven the Hunter. Russell Crowe was the first co-star to join Aaron Taylor-Johnson's Marvel movie, as the legendary actor is expected to play Sergei Kravinoff's father, Nikolai Kravinoff. It was also recently announced that The White Lotus actor Fred Hechinger will play Chameleon, Kraven's half-brother Dmitri Smerdyakov.
The casting of Ariana DeBose is another exciting aspect of Kraven the Hunter, especially if she is playing Calypso. It should give the rising actress a chance to play a very different role, as the voodoo priestess can be much darker than the characters DeBose has recently played. Calypso also adds another intriguing element to Kraven the Hunter, thanks to the use of magic potentially. As Sony looks to continue building Sony's Spider-Man Cinematic Universe, there is even the chance that Calypso could be a recurring role for DeBose, depending on how Kraven the Hunter plays out.
Source: Deadline
