Ayo Edebiri is dropping out of Marvel’s upcoming film, Thunderbolts.

Deadline reports that Geraldine Viswanathan will take over The Bear star‘s role in the upcoming superhero film. Edebiri is leaving because of scheduling conflicts caused after Thunderbolts’ production was delayed because of the writers and actors’ strikes of 2023.

While Thunderbolts seems like it’s trying to maintain some of its diversity by hiring Viswanathan, Edebiri’s decision to leave makes for the second actor of color to leave the film. Steven Yeun, who was initially cast in the film, left the project a few weeks ago, with Lewis Pullman replacing him.

Pullman’s addition makes the cast even less diverse than before; he joins Florence Pugh, Sebastian Stan, David Harbour, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Wyatt Russell, and Olga Kurylenko. Hannah John-Kamen is now the only actor of color known to be a part of the project aside from Viswanathan.

Directed by Jake Schreier, Thunderbolts brings various villains/antiheroes together to become a shadow organization created by the government to complete missions around the world. The film comes to theaters July 2025.

Geraldine Viswanathan

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