UPDATED 9/21, 9:39 p.m. ET: Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer have been tapped to write the MCU reboot of Fantastic Four.
According to Deadline, the writing duo have been working on the script for quite “some time”—even before Marvel confirmed Matt Shakman had signed on to direct the project following Jon Watts’ departure. The studio has not revealed any casting or plot details, but reassure fans the film will deliver something they’ve never seen before.
“A lot of people know this origin story. A lot of people know the basics,” Marvel boss Kevin Feig told the Hollywood Reporter this year. “How do we take that and bring something that they’ve never seen before?”
Fantastic Four is scheduled to hit U.S. theaters Nov. 8, 2024, effectively kicking off the MCU’s Phase 6.
Kaplan and Springer’s filmographies are relatively small with less than a dozen credits on their respective IMDb pages. The two collaborated on the 2013 indie project Bert and Arnie’s Guide to Friendship, and recently sold the spec script for the Warner Bros.’ Disaster Wedding and penned the forthcoming Rebel Wilson comedy K-Pop: Lost in America.
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WandaVision director Matt Shakman is reportedly in talks to direct Marvel’s long-awaited Fantastic Four film after Jon Watts stepped down from the role.
Deadline reports that Shakman is in talks with Marvel Studios for its Fantastic Four film, which lost Spider-Man: No Way Home director earlier this year. While the search for a replacement was originally expected to go on until the end of the year, Shakman has emerged as the frontrunner for the project due to his acclaimed work on all nine episodes of WandaVision, Marvel’s first Marvel Cinematic Universe-based Disney+ series.
Fans have been hoping to see Fantastic Four join the MCU ever since Disney announced its plans to acquire 21st Century Fox, who owned the movie rights to the franchise and X-Men, in 2017. Fantastic Four was finally confirmed at Comic-Con last month, where Marvel revealed it will kick off MCU’s Phase 6 on November 8, 2024.
Aside from WandaVision, Shakman has also directed 43 episodes of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, two episodes of Game of Thrones, and a handful of one-off jobs for shows like The Boys and Succession. He was attached to direct a new Star Trek movie for Paramount, but he’s since dropped out of the project due to scheduling issues.
“Matt Shakman is an incredibly talented filmmaker, and we regret the timing didn’t align for him to direct our upcoming Star Trek film,” Paramount Pictures said in a statement, per the Hollywood Reporter. “We are grateful for his many contributions, are excited about the creative vision of this next chapter and look forward to bringing it to audiences all around the world.” The movie is planned to be a fourth in the Chris Pine-led series, after Paramount decided against rebooting the series.
