director Julius Onah recently revealed why WWE star, who was initially cast as a member of the, was cut from the film. He explained that the film evolved during production, leading to changes that better fit its tone.
He also cited Giancarlo Esposito’s availability as a key factor in the casting decisions. Julius Onah explained the decision to cut Seth Rollins from Captain America: Brave New World in an interview with ComicBook.com, stating, “You know, when you’re taking characters like Serpent Society from publishing, who, as you know, are individuals dressed up as snakes and have snake-adjacent powers, you’re always iterating and trying to figure out the version that totally works best in a movie like this.” Onah praised Rollins but noted changes during production. “I love Seth, Seth’s incredible.
But as we were evolving and we knew we had an additional photography period, just one that we did early on in the process that’s planned.” Onah further elaborated that the decision was influenced by Giancarlo Esposito’s availability. “We were trying to figure out, ‘hey, who’s somebody that can bring a very specific kind of gravitas that works with this tone.’ And when Giancarlo became available, it was such a no-brainer,” the filmmaker said. “I have a very particular history with him.
He’s iconic for working with Spike Lee. I interned with Spike Lee when I was 19 years old.” “And of course, fans have been fan-casting him for a long time in the MCU.
So it’s really about making sure that all the elements worked in the grounded tone and vision that I have for this film,” Onah added. “And as we evolved and iterated, Giancarlo just made sense.