Ghostbusters: Afterlife Star Cast in Spider-Man Spinoff Madame Web
Sony's Spider-Man spinoff Madame Web is adding Ghostbusters: Afterlife star Celeste O'Connor to its all-star cast. O'Connor portrayed the character Lucky in Ghostbusters: Afterlife and Deadline reports their role in Madame Web is not being disclosed at this time. O'Connor joins Dakota Johnson and Sydney Sweeney in the S.J. Clarkson-directed film, which Sony's Motion Picture Group chairman Tom Rothman confirmed will begin filming "in the spring" for a 2023 release. Madame Web joins Sony's other Spider-Man-adjacent projects such as Venom, Venom: Let There Be Carnage, Morbius, and Kraven the Hunter.
Celeste O'Connor's credits include Zach Braff's upcoming MGM drama A Good Person starring Morgan Freeman and Florence Pugh; Paramount+'s The In Between with Joey King; Blumhouse's Freaky starring Vince Vaughn and Kathryn Newton; and Netflix's Irreplaceable You starring Gugu Mbatha-Raw and Michiel Huisman.
Dakota Johnson will take on the role of Madame Web, with the power of clairvoyance that allows her to look into the Spider-Verse web. Created by Denny O'Neil and John Romita Jr., Madame Web debuted in 1980's The Amazing Spider-Man #210. Cassandra Webb was the original Madame Web and was replaced by Julia Carpenter. Sony revealed Madame Web will swing into theaters on July 7, 2023.
"Then there are movies I would call adjunct to the Spider-Man universe," Rothman said of Sony's Marvel plans (via Deadline). "That's Kraven, which we're shooting now, and Madame Web, which we'll start in the spring with S.J. Clarkson directing. And then there are many Marvel characters that are standalone."
Euphoria star Sydney Sweeney's role is currently unknown as well. However, she has been doing some homework to prepare for the part. "I've been ordering a bunch of comic books," Sweeney explained in a recent interview with Variety. "There's a lot to learn. I've always been a really big fan of all the Marvel and Sony Universe movies. I've grown up watching them all and I've been engulfed in the entire world my entire life, so being able to be a part of that is such an incredible, incredible thing."
Sony is also planning for more Ghostbusters sequels after the success of Ghostbusters: Afterlife. "Yes, we will," Rothman told Deadline when asked about sequels. "We have plenty of franchise universes with which to operate in, but since I have Deadline here, I want to say, and please include this, OK? Everyone will say, yeah you did $3 billion but it's all sequels and superheroes. It was not all that. There was Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood and Little Women. This summer, we've got Bullet Train, from David Leitch, with Brad Pitt, a pure original, R-rated rock 'em, sock 'em action movie for grownups. And Where the Crawdads Sing, a big bestseller with an up-and-coming actress, Daisy Edgar Jones, for women. I absolutely believe that women will come back to the box office."
Madame Web swings into theaters on July 7, 2023.