'Deadpool's Ed Skrein Cast as Villain in 'Maleficent' Sequel

Disney's Maleficent sequel has finally found its new villain in the form of former Deadpool foe Ed Skrein.

According to Variety, Skrein is in final negotiations to portray the antagonist in the upcoming sequel, where he will star opposite Angelina Jolie and Elle Fanning. While Skrein's character is definitely going to be a villain, the specifics of the role are being kept under wraps.

It may sound odd, adding a villain to a movie about a more iconic villain, but Maleficent is all about the character's route to becoming the evil woman we know from Sleeping Beauty. Jolie's take on the character can be dangerous when she wants to be, but she has yet to become the antagonist that we're all expecting.

The first Maleficent movie was one of Disney's initial explorations of adapting their classic films to a live-action format, and was an enormous success at the box office. The movie broke multiple records and ended up hauling in $758.5 million worldwide.

Joachim Ronning, director of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, will be helming the Maleficent sequel, with Joe Roth set to produce. The most recent draft of the script was written by Micah Fitzerman-Blu and Noah Harpster, but Jez Butterwroth and Linda Woolverton have been brought on to pen the latest draft.

The movie is set to begin production sometime later this year.

Skrein is best known for playing the villainous role of Ajax opposite Ryan Reynolds in 2016's hit movie Deadpool. The actor first popped onto radars in 2013 when he appeared as Daario Naharis in Game of Thrones. Skrein departed the role after only three episodes however, and was replaced by Michiel Huisman.

In addition to the Maleficent sequel, Skrein is set to appear in several upcoming films, including Alita: Battle Angel, If Beale Street Could Talk, and Born a King. The actor was initially added to the cast of the new Hellboy movie, but left the film when he learned that the character he was portraying was of Asian descent. He felt that it wasn't right for him as a Caucasian actor to take the role, which ultimately went to Daniel Dae Kim.

Do you think Ed Skrein is a good fit for the Maleficent sequel? Are you excited to see the movie when it's finally released? Let us know by dropping a comment below!