Thunderbolts Star Sebastian Stan Is Happy He Doesn’t Have to Deal With Anthony Mackie Anymore

This past weekend at D23 Expo, Marvel president Kevin Feige offered a ton of new details about the next phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Among them was the first confirmed cast members for the upcoming Captain America: New World Order and the Thunderbolts movie. Fans of The Falcon and the Winter Soldier series have been wondering if Sebastian Stan would be reuniting with his co-star Anthony Mackie for Cap 4 but it turns out he’ll actually be starring in the other film. Speaking in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter after the event, Stan addressed the separation between the two actors with a laugh.

“All I can say, freedom tastes bright. Finally, I am free,” Stan noted, prompting laughter from his Thunderbolts co-stars Wyatt Russell and Julia Louis-Dreyfus. “No, I love him… It is weird (without him) of course. That’s, you know, it’s a little bit like Stockholm Syndrome…But anyway, it’s nice to at least always be close to each other.” Stan and Mackie have been a fan-favorite pairing ever since the shared the screen with comedic effect in Captain America: Civil War, largely leading to them co-starring in their own Disney+ series.

Should Stan not appear in the upcoming Captain America: New World Order however it would mark the first Captain America movie in which his character Bucky Barnes isn’t feature in some capacity. The fourth movie will be released in May of 2024 with Thunderbolts arriving just two months later in July of the same year. Considering the condensed timeline, there’s perhaps some crossover potential between the two, but there’s been no confirmation that cast members from either movie will appear elsewhere just yet.

Stan is set to star in the Thunderbolts movie alongside Florence Pugh as Yelena Belova/Black Widow II, Wyatt Russell as John Walker/US Agent, Hannah John-Kamen as Ghost, David Harbour as Red Guardian, and Olga Kurylenko as Taskmaster. Jake Schreier (Paper Towns) is confirmed to be directing the film, while Eric Pearson (Black Widow) is confirmed to be the writer.