'Venom' Sequel Officially Moving Forward With Original Writer

Though it has been long-speculated that Sony's Venom would receive a sequel, recent reports suggest a sequel is officially moving forward at Sony. According to a report from Variety, Sony has hired Kelly Marcel — part of the writing team behind the first flick — to pen Venom 2.

Marcel (Fifty Shades of Grey) is also slated to receive executive producer credits on the sequel, which will see Tom Hardy return to reprise his role as Eddie Brock. The report also states that Michelle Williams and Woody Harrelson are each set to reprise their role from the original film, with the latter set to play fan-favorite Spider-Man villain Carnage in the follow-up.

Jeff Pinker, another screenwriter on Venom, previously hinted that a sequel was in the works.

"I can't say anything other than that it is happening," Pinkner revealed. When asked whether or not he was writing the sequel, he replied, "I am not. As of now, I am not."

It was but a matter of time before Sony pushed a sequel into development as Venom dominated box offices overseas. Grossing just $213 million domestically, the Ruben Fleischer-directed film tallied an astonishing $642 million overseas totaling an overall haul of $855 million for Sony and company. Speaking with ComicBook.com, Fleischer previously mentioned that a sequel was in mind when they chose to add Cletus Kasady in a post-credits stinger.

"So, when we were thinking about including that scene and laying the groundwork for a potential sequel, he was the first person I thought of and a just because selfishly I'm really excited to work with him again, whether it's in Zombieland 2 or the potential sequel to this film," Venom director Ruben Fleischer told ComicBook.com. "But if you think about Natural Born Killers and Mickey, the character he played in that film, I feel like there's a real lineage that you can trace from Mickey to Cletus and I also think that he hasn't gone dark in that way for a while."

What'd you think of Venom? What do you think the Tom Hardy-starring sequel should show? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.

Venom is now available on home media.