‘Wonder Woman 2’ Rumored to Cast ‘Venom’ Star Riz Ahmed

With production set to begin later this summer, director Patty Jenkins is hard at work filling out the cast for Wonder Woman II.

Actors Kristen Wiig and Pedro Pascal were recently announced to be joining Gal Gadot for the highly anticipated sequel, but a new rumor suggests there’s one popular actor being eyed for a key role. On the latest episode of Meet the Movie Press, Jeff Sneider suggested that Riz Ahmed is being considered to be added to the cast.

“I would imagine that Pedro Pascal is playing someone who’s maybe a villain of some kind… I guess you never know,” said Sneider. “From what I understood, there were two decently sized male roles for Wonder Woman II, and one was a slippery conman type and the other was an opposing business man… I heard they were looking at Riz Ahmed for that role.”

Sneider goes on to add that he’s not sure how Ahmed would participate in both films as he’s also playing a conniving business man in Venom, which is scheduled to premiere in theaters this year.

Ahmed is known for his breakout role in HBO’s The Night Of. He also had a key role in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story as the turncoat Imperial pilot Bodhi Rook, and played a major role in the final season of Girls on HBO. He is rumored to be playing Dr. Carlton Drake, the head of the Life Foundation, in Venom, and can be briefly seen in that movie’s teaser.

There’s no word yet on who these two male characters could be in the Wonder Woman sequel, whether they’re new for the film or established in comic book lore. Given the “opposing businessman” descriptor, we could be seeing a big screen version of Maxwell Lord, who became a Wonder Woman villain with their infamous confrontation in Infinite Crisis. But Lord is more of a Justice League villain and/or supporting character.

There are also rumors that Chris Pine could return as Steve Trevor in the film, though it remains to be seen how exactly that would be explained. This would be even more confusing given the film’s supposed setting.

The buzz surrounding Wonder Woman II indicates the film will be set during the Cold War and will once again be an international affair, and that it could stretch beyond Europe and to the United States.

Hopefully we’ll learn more about the sequel to last summer’s blockbuster hit as filming starts to roll.

Wonder Woman II premieres November 1, 2019.