Walking Dead star speaks out after shock exit from MCU’s Thunderbolts

Ex-Thunderbolts cast member Steven Yeun just opened up about his surprise departure from the upcoming MCU blockbuster.

Yeun first rose to fame as Glenn Rhee in HBO’s The Walking Dead. He appeared as a series regular for six seasons, before leaving the show in Season 7’s premiere episode.

Since then, Yuen’s enjoyed even greater success via roles in the likes of Netflix’s Beef, Prime Video’s Invincible, and A24’s Minari. The latter earned him a Best Actor nomination at the 93rd Academy Awards.

The Korean-American actor’s star was slated to shine even brighter as the Superman-like Sentry in 2025’s Thunderbolts, however, he stepped down from the role on January 3.

Walking Dead star speaks out after shock exit from MCU’s Thunderbolts

Yeun has since revealed his reasons for dropping out of Thunderbolts, during an interview with Variety. According to the in-demand performer, scheduling conflicts arising out of 2023’s SAG-AFTRA strike are at least partly to blame.

Steven Yeun cites last year’s SAG-AFTRA strike as one reason behind his decision to drop out of Marvel's #Thunderbolts.

“I think for me, time passing and things shifting kind of pulled me out of it.” https://t.co/VH6DpiSSbF

— Variety (@Variety) January 4, 2024

“I think for me, time passing and things shifting kind of pulled me out of it,” Yeun said. “But [Thunderbolts director] Jake [Schreier], I know, is going to do an incredible job.”

“It took a lot of drafts on email to make sure that I conveyed the sincerity of how sorry I was to have to back out,” he added, after making it clear he still wants to work with Marvel Studios on other projects. Yeun was tight-lipped about what these projects might be, though.

“I think it’s too early to say that,” Yeun elaborated. “I probably pissed off too many people leaving, so I’m just gonna say, ‘Thank you for having me.’ I have some ideas, but I heard if you put it out there, you’ll never get it, so I’ll keep it close to my chest.”

Thunderbolts cuts ties with Captain America 4

While Yeun has split from Thunderbolts, Marvel Studios has reportedly done some ditching of its own. The online rumor mill recently indicated that the studio has removed Thunderbolts’ narrative links to another major MCU Phase Six release, Captain America: Brave New World.

This supposedly includes trimming out a cameo by Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ Valentina Allegra de Fontaine. Some sources now speculate that Marvel will recycle this material as one of Brave New World’s post-credits scenes. That said, Louis-Dreyfus is still officially part of Thunderbolts’ ensemble at this stage.

For the latest Thunderbolts news and updates, check out Dexerto’s full coverage here.