Venom: The Last Dance brings the Marvel Comics villain Knull to the big screen, but don’t expect him to be the main antagonist of this trilogy-capper. “One movie could never do justice to Knull,” director and co-writer Kelly Marcel told IGN via email.
While Venom: The Last Dance may be the final installment of Tom Hardy’s Eddie Brock franchise (more on that in a bit), fans should expect the sequel to also serve as a springboard for future appearances by Knull. “We were always aware of Knull, but knew that we needed to lay the foundation of the Venom character, and his relationship with Eddie, before introducing him. This is just the beginning for Knull,” Marcel revealed.
“We're in spoiler territory now and we hope some of the fun of watching this movie is not knowing what will happen, but trust me, we know full well how important Knull is to the fans, so just as we laid a foundation for Venom, we hope we are doing the same for Knull,” she said. “The King in Black is way too powerful for ‘one and done.’”
“This film introduces Knull, but it just touches the beginnings of his story,” Marcel added. “Marvel's greatest film villains are developed over time. Here, Knull is the threat lurking behind the danger that tests the absolute limits of Eddie and Venom's partnership — but it’s their relationship that remains the heart of this story.”
In addition to our one-on-one interview with Marcel, IGN can also exclusively reveal these two new photos from Venom: The Last Dance featuring the Lethal Protector.
The Last Dance marks Marcel's first time behind the camera but she wrote and produced the previous two entries and has a longstanding friendship with star-producer Tom Hardy. Our full Q&A with her follows wherein the filmmaker sheds light on Amazing Spider-Man veteran Rhys Ifans’ casting, why Michelle Williams’ Anne Weying isn’t back for the sequel, the contributions of Knull co-creators Donny Cates and Ryan Stegman, and more.
IGN: What is the relationship between Eddie Brock and Venom like by the time we see them here? At this point, they've been together for a long time.
Kelly Marcel: Eddie and Venom are fugitives in this movie, far away from San Francisco and everyone they’ve ever known. Pursued by multiple adversaries, they’re now all the other has.
IGN: Chiwetel Ejiofor and Juno Temple's characters appear to be part of the military-science complex. Given the events of the past two Venom films, the existence of symbiotes can't be a surprise to them, so what can you tell us about their agenda in The Last Dance?
Marcel: Symbiotes are no surprise to their characters and the military science complex we find them in is part of the reason Eddie and Venom must run. While Chiwetel and Juno’s characters have different agendas they, like Eddie and Venom, have to work together for the greater good.
IGN: Anne Weying doesn't appear to be in this sequel. Were there any discussions about bringing her back or has Eddie finally moved on from her? (Has he accepted that Venom is actually the love of his life? Only half-joking here!)
Marcel: Only half not joking in response, this story is really focused on Eddie and Venom and, shall we say, the “depth” of their relationship.
IGN: What can you say about the return of Mulligan, especially in light of how Let There be Carnage ended?
Marcel: Is it just the return of Mulligan? Or is he returning with a friend? Symbiotes have some pretty special abilities, as you will see.
IGN: This is your feature film directing debut. Although you've written and produced the two prior Venom films, how much of a challenge was it as a first-time director to make a film so heavily reliant on special effects?
Marcel: Having worked on the first two movies, I was familiar with the special effects and VFX work that these movies require. We were fortunate to have Chris Corbould heading us up in SFX. I wanted to do as much in camera as possible; one sequence in particular required Tom Hardy and the stunt team to spend two weeks underwater in a specially built rapids tank that Chris conceived. The SFX in this movie are extraordinary and Chris’ team, coupled with the talent of our second unit director, Brian Smrz, took this beyond anything I could have imagined when writing it on the page.
Our VFX team, led by the brilliant John Moffatt and Aharon Bourland, also knocked it out of the park. As you will see, there is an array of creatures far greater than we have seen in the previous two movies and they brought personality and character to all of them, which was really of the essence for me.
In answer to the challenge question, it was challenging, but our teams really stepped up to that challenge hand in hand with me and made sure the dream came to life.
IGN: Carnage is pretty widely regarded as the definitive Venom villain. With the last movie handling that rivalry, how difficult was it to move forward with the story and find a villain that could rival Carnage?
Marcel: Carnage was one bad symbiote and definitely a classic Venom rival, but the comics are rife with villains. We knew we wanted to step up our game with the threat in this movie so we brought out the big guns to bring a much bigger challenge, not only to Eddie and Venom but to our world.
IGN: Marvel really reinvigorated the mythology of Venom when Knull and that related backstory was introduced in 2018. When did you become aware of Knull as a character, and when did you start thinking about how to work him into this cinematic universe?
Marcel: We were always aware of Knull, but knew that we needed to lay the foundation of the Venom character, and his relationship with Eddie, before introducing him. This is just the beginning for Knull.
IGN: Is Knull the main antagonist of the movie? Or is his role in The Last Dance more of a tease for future conflicts to come rather than the central villain? If the latter is the case, did you feel he was too big a character to treat as a one-and-done threat?
Marcel: We're in spoiler territory now and we hope some of the fun of watching this movie is not knowing what will happen, but trust me, we know full well how important Knull is to the fans, so just as we laid a foundation for Venom, we hope we are doing the same for Knull. The King in Black is way too powerful for “one and done". This film introduces Knull, but it just touches the beginnings of his story. Marvel's greatest film villains are developed over time. Here, Knull is the threat lurking behind the danger that tests the absolute limits of Eddie and Venom's partnership — but it’s their relationship that remains the heart of this story.
IGN: We knew The Last Dance would be the final Venom movie, but Tom Hardy also confirmed that it'd be his last outing as the character. Without spoiling too much, was that a Sony decision, or something that's a result of what happens in the film?
Marcel: From the beginning, Tom and I always envisioned that this particular Eddie/Venom story would be told in three parts and the story arc would climax with the third film for reasons the movie will reveal.
IGN: If this truly is the final Venom film with Tom then why even set up such a consequential character as Knull here?
Marcel: As the fans know there are many, many more symbiote stories — the universe is wide and rich, and one movie could never do justice to Knull. Beyond this trilogy, there are more stories to explore – God is coming.
IGN: The trailer also revealed that Rhys Ifans is in the movie. Given that he's already starred in past Spider-Man films as Dr. Curt Connors/The Lizard, can you say whether he's playing an entirely different character here?
Marcel: It’s not uncommon for actors to be cast as different Marvel characters across various films and this is no different. The best actors for the roles were cast and Rhys is no exception, he plays a new and different character in a really fun and important role and I am so excited for people’s reaction to his wonderful performance.
IGN: Knull co-creator Donny Cates said on X/Twitter that he had talks with Sony and was allowed to read the screenplay for The Last Dance. What role, if any, did he and fellow co-creator Ryan Stegman have on this film, and how much input did they give into Knull’s portrayal? Because they recently said on social media that they hope to be compensated for his inclusion.
Marcel: The Venom books from David and Todd through to Donny and Ryan’s run have always given us so much cool stuff. Tom is a huge fan of Donny and Ryan and spoke to Donny as far back as Venom 1. Tom and I both felt their creation of Knull was an absolute must to explore. Donny and Ryan have an advisory relationship with Sony.
For more on Eddie Brock and Venom’s final ride, find out how Venom: The Last Dance could connect to the MCU and what the creators of Knull had to say about his inclusion in the movie. And in the Marvel Comics, check out our preview of Venom's new host in All-New Venom.
Venom: The Last Dance will be part of Sony Pictures’ New York Comic Con presentation on Friday, October 18th 7:00PM-8:00PM at the Empire Stage of the Javitz Center. The film opens in theaters on October 25th.
