Marvel cast one Thunderbolts actor before the rest, and it wasn’t Florence Pugh

The MCU’s Thunderbolts movie has the majority of its cast set, but one actor knew about it all before the others did.

Fans are eagerly awaiting the upcoming Thunderbolts movie, which will be both the MCU‘s version of a Suicide Squad and the final film of Phase Five.

The darker version of the Avengers will include members such as Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh), the Winter Soldier (Sebastian Stan), Ghost (Hannah John-Kamen), and the US Agent (Wyatt Russell).

But turns out that one member of the film’s cast had some insight that the others didn’t during the casting process. And no, it wasn’t current Hollywood darling Florence Pugh.

One Thunderbolts star knew they were cast long before the others

As a Thunderbolts movie had been hinted at for around two years, naturally some people were going to know more information than others. And with the amount of planning that goes into every MCU phase, one may wonder how long this film’s stars new they were going to be a part of it.

Recently, one of the main cast actually revealed how long she has been attached to the project, which was far longer than the rest of the cast.

Which cast member you ask? None other than the Seinfeld star herself, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who plays the Nick Fury of the Thunderbolts, Valentina Allegra de Fontaine.

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In an interview with ExtraTV from the D23 Fan Expo, Louis-Dreyfus, along with fellow Thunderbolts cast members Wyatt Russell and Sebastian Stan, discussed how long she’d known about their casting. While Russell and Stan admitted that they had not been in the know until recently, Louis-Dreyfus revealed that Marvel had informed her a while ago that she’d be coming back as Valentina.

Their conversation went as such:

ExtraTV: “I feel like we’ve been waiting for this cast announcement for so long. How long have you guys had to keep it a secret and how did it feel out there?”

Stan: “I don’t think any of us knew, maybe you did…?”

Louis-Dreyfus: “I think did… I actually knew.”

Russell: “Oh nice. Nice. I didn’t know. I didn’t know. I didn’t know.”

ExtraTV: “Really?”

Russell: “I mean, I knew…”

Stan: “It was good, because it sort of, kind of plays into the show that we had and sort of when you came in, there was a plan, so that so far reality is matching well.”

It’s fitting that Valentina knew before the other Thunderbolts

As Stan commented in the interview, it’s very much fitting that Louis-Dreyfus knew before anyone else. Since her characetr Valentina is the orchestrator of the Thunderbolts, her having more information than the others is very on-theme.

The actor also spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about her experience at D23 and how production for the Thunderbolts film was going, stating, that the experience was “somewhat surreal and we’re delighted to be here, of course, but we haven’t made the movie yet… so it’s kind of a strange, backwards experience, but we’re stoked.”

Like many Marvel actors, she was clearly bound to secrecy and couldn’t answer any questions about the plot of script, but she did reveal that her kids “are very impressed” that she’s now part of the MCU family.

Thunderbolts will be released in cinemas on July 26, 2024.