A Marvel negotiation for Storrie
Connor Storrie, whose profile surged through the series Heated Rivalry, is negotiating to portray the antagonist in Marvel's Ghost Rider alongside Ryan Gosling, according to reporting first surfaced by The Hollywood Reporter and echoed by several outlets. Shawn Levy is set to direct from a screenplay by Jonathan Tropper, the writer behind Star Wars: Starfighter. The studio has scheduled the film for July 28, 2028, and intends to start production in New York next year.[S1][S2][S3][S4][S5][S6][S7][S8]
Levy and Gosling are producing with Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito and Stephen Broussard, while Richie Palmer and Jessie Henderson serve as executive producers. Feige revealed the project unexpectedly during Marvel's Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con this summer. Gosling told the assembled crowd that the character had long been one he hoped to portray. Marvel Studios, as a matter of policy, does not discuss casting.[S1]
From waiting tables to franchise talk
The Texas-born actor gained widespread attention as Ilya Romanov, a Russian hockey player, in Heated Rivalry. Before that breakthrough he was employed as a server at Laurel Grill in Culver City. Since then he has added a guest-hosting stint on Saturday Night Live that earned a Primetime Emmy nomination, and a supporting part in Sarah Polley's adaptation of The Bell Jar for Focus Features, appearing with Billie Eilish.[S1]
A second season of Heated Rivalry, which follows the rivalry-turned-romance between Storrie's Ilya and Hudson Williams' Shane Hollander, is currently in production and is set to debut on HBO Max next spring. Storrie's representatives are CAA, Linden Entertainment, Shelter PR and Yorn Levine.[S1]
Which Ghost Rider, and which villain?
For years, Marvel fans had pushed for Gosling to take the part. Nicolas Cage previously headlined a 2007 origin film and a 2011 follow-up as Johnny Blaze, a motorcycle stuntman who trades his soul to the demon Mephisto to save his father from cancer. After the rights returned to Marvel Studios, Gabriel Luna portrayed a younger, Latino version of the character, Robby Reyes, on the ABC series Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.[S1]
Marvel has not said which incarnation of Ghost Rider Gosling will play, so the identity of Storrie's character also remains open. Mephisto has lately entered the Marvel Cinematic Universe through the Disney+ show Ironheart, where Sacha Baron Cohen plays him.[S1]
