It was confirmed today on Saturday, May 13 by The Hollywood Reporter that Nicholas Hoult (Renfield) is indeed up for a lead role in James Gunn’s upcoming Superman reboot entitled Superman: Legacy, as Lex Luthor, however, new conflicting reports suggest that Hoult could be up for the titular role.
Deadline‘s Senior Film Reporter Justin Kroll took to Twitter shortly after the announcement that Hoult was up for Lex Luthor, providing new and conflicting information that Hoult is up to play the titular hero Kal-El, aka Clark Kent, aka Superman himself.
“Hoult is up Superman not Luthor”.
Justin Kroll
Hoult has been speculated and theorized for many months now to be playing the main villain role in Superman: Legacy, with this information potentially throwing him into the hero seat once again, and this time into the DC world as opposed to his previous long-term Marvel role as Hank McCoy, aka Beast, in the X-Men universe.
James Gunn Neither Confirms Nor Denies
James Gunn has also taken to Twitter as of writing this article to neither confirm nor deny the casting report, stating that “he would never comment on who is or isn’t AUDITIONING for a role.”
“That’s the actor’s business only & isn’t something I’d make public unless they did it first after the fact (like @GlennHowerton or @ZacharyLevi having auditioned for Star-Lord & being top choices).”
James Gunn
However, Gunn confirms that one person has been cast in his Superman movie so far, as his post continues to read “only one person has been CAST in Superman: Legacy, and it isn’t any of the regular players in the Superman world.”
James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy is set to release on July 11, 2025.
