The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’s Wyatt Russell Reveals First-Ever Audition Was for Captain America

Actor Wyatt Russell made his Marvel Cinematic Universe debut last week in the final moments of the series premiere of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, which marked a surprising reflection of his own acting career, as he recently noted that his very first acting audition was for Steve Rogers in Captain America: The First Avenger. Russell did admit, however, that he didn’t assume he was actually in consideration for the role, more that it was an opportunity to see if he had what it took to go out for any further acting opportunities, with his current MCU ironically being the successor to Rogers with the Captain America mantle.

“I think that honestly, the first audition was really more just something to read, to see if I was any good at acting or not,” Russell shared with Good Morning America. “I don’t think I was ever actually in competition for the role, but it was crazy.”

Chris Evans, who had a number of credits to his name at the time of taking on the Rogers role, would go on to define the role and set the bar high for anyone embodying the hero going forward.

More than a decade later, when Russell once again auditioned for a role in the MCU, he didn’t even know what character he was reading for.

“This time I had no idea even what it was, it was just, ‘Marvel wants you to read for something, go for it,’ and I found out after I got the part what it was, so I didn’t even know what it was going in,” Russell admitted.

In the premiere of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, it was revealed, to the shock of audiences and characters alike, that Russell’s John Walker would go on to be the “new” Captain America, though fans familiar with the character’s backstory that he takes a different approach to wielding the shield. Similarly, Russell noted that he won’t be portraying the hero in the same way Evans did.

“He did have an unreal, unbelievable job,” Russell revealed to USA Today. “That was a really different version of Captain America, with far less problems. He was fighting Nazis and he had less internal issues to deal with because everyone thought he was perfect. That’s just so hard to play, and he did such a great job of actually bringing some conflict with the character.”

He continued, “He’s perfect. Who else can play Captain America like Chris Evans? Nobody. And what’s good about this show is that it takes that in hand, where it’s like, ‘Well, who else is going to [expletive] play Captain America? This guy?’”

New episodes of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier premiere on Disney+ on Fridays.

Watch The Falcon and the Winter Soldier on Disney+.

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