Seth Rollins Confirms Marvel Cut His Scenes From Captain America: Brave New World After Reshoots

Seth Rollins will have a ringside seat for Captain America: Brave New World. The former WWE champion confirmed his role in the Marvel Studios movie — which stars Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Captain America and Harrison Ford as U.S. President Ross/Red Hulk — has been cut from the final version (out Feb. 14). In a new interview following his main event match against CM Punk on the Jan. 6 streaming premiere of WWE Monday Night Raw on Netflix, the wrestler revealed there’s no “Freakin’” trace of him in the next installment of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“I wish it the best, but I am not a part of that film,” Rollins said when asked about Captain America 4 on the Insight with Chris Van Vliet podcast.

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“Does my NDA still apply if I’m not in the film anymore? Truth be told, any answer I gave would only be my opinion on it. The script went through a lot of rewrites and reshoots so what I was there to do, essentially my role got either repurposed or completely erased,” Rollins explained. “So I did do a bit of an audition to possibly pop into another role, I believe, or the repurposing of my role, I’m not exactly sure on what it was, but they ended up going in a different direction with it.”

Rollins continued, “My understanding was there were just a lot of rewrites and a lot of reshoots, and they know they’ve got a finished product that hopefully they’re happy with, and hopefully it’s successful, but it will be sans Seth Rollins.”

Paparazzi photos that leaked from the Atlanta, Georgia set in May 2023 showed Rollins in a green and gold outfit with long blonde hair. Rollins’ rumored Marvel role was reported to be Cobra (later King Cobra), a founding member of the Serpent Squad that battled Steve Rogers and the Falcon in 1973’s Captain America #163. In 1985’s Captain America #310, Sidewinder reformed the snake-themed supervillains as the Serpent Society.

“I’m not in the movie. I will say unequivocally I’m not in the film,” Rollins added. “I do not want anybody to go to the film thinking, ‘I’m here to see Seth Rollins.’ There might be two people that would do that, but I don’t want those two people to waste their time. I don’t want to misinform anybody. I don’t want to lead anybody astray. I am not in the film.”

By May 2024, Rollins’ character was reportedly dropped from the film when Brave New World (retitled from New World Order) returned to Atlanta for a 22-day shoot with Breaking Bad and The Boys actor Giancarlo Esposito joining the cast in a villain role. Esposito, who will appear in the final cut, later confirmed his role as Seth Voelker, a.k.a. Sidewinder of the Serpent Society (albeit without the snake paraphernalia of his comic book counterpart).

“It should be a good one. Marvel does a great job,” Rollins said. “I mean, if I’m not [in anything else], I don’t care. I don’t love acting. I love wrestling. My wife [WWE wrestler Becky Lynch] loves acting. She’s way better at it than I am. She’s got awesome stuff coming out … she announced her bit on Star Trek [Starfleet Academy], which is going to be sick.”

Rollins made his film debut in 2016’s Sharknado: The 4th Awakens and appeared opposite Wesley Snipes in 2017’s Armed Response. Rollins also appeared in a scene deleted from the 2020 Tiffany Haddish-Rose Byrne comedy Like a Boss.

In Captain America: Brave New World, Sam Wilson (Mackie) “finds himself in the middle of an international incident,” per the official synopsis. “He must discover the reason behind a nefarious global plot before the true mastermind has the entire world seeing red.” Mackie and Ford lead a cast that includes Danny Ramirez, Shira Haas, Xosha Roquemore, Carl Lumbly, with Giancarlo Esposito, Liv Tyler, and Tim Blake Nelson reprising his role from 2008’s The Incredible Hulk as Samuel Sterns/the Leader. The movie opens Feb. 14.