Venom: Let There Be Carnage arrives exclusively at UK cinemas from October 15, and we were fortunate enough to sit down with director Andy Serkis to discuss his "ultimate Marvel movie."
There are some amazing Easter Eggs in the sequel, but only a couple of very subtle nods to Spider-Man. With that in mind, we asked the filmmaker if he considered upping the number of references to the web-slinger or if he wanted to keep the focus on Carnage for the time being (note: this interview was conducted prior to the release of Venom: Let There Be Carnage in U.S. theaters).
"In this story, we wanted to continue it being in its own universe and not have it cross over too much into anything else," Serkis confirmed. "There was so much to unpack with this story; the odd couple relationship, the introduction of Cletus and Carnage. We had an embarrassment of riches in terms of what stories we could tell here. Shriek. Her backstory and blending it all together."
"It really felt like there wasn’t any more room to start going to the next phase, and I think if and when it does happen, it will land at the right time, as a result, by not rushing into it."
The Venom sequel had a huge $90 million opening weekend in North America, so a third chapter seems likely. Nothing has been confirmed at this stage, of course, but we asked Serkis if he believes a meeting between Eddie Brock and Peter Parker is an inevitability following the events of this movie.
"Who knows? I don’t know where it’s heading, but hopefully, this film…you can’t count on anything…but hopefully, this film will do well and people will go and see it," the director continues. "I do feel it’s the right film for right now because I think people will enjoy it. If they do get out and make the effort to see it in cinemas, I think it’s a perfectly uplifting fun and dark film that will be hugely entertaining. Hopefully, it will reinvigorate people to go back to the cinemas."
"Who knows? Who knows?" Serkis pondered. "We’ll have to wait and see."
Watch the full interview in the player below to hear from Serkis on possible Venom 3 plans, that battle between Venom and Eddie, Carnage's origin story, comic book inspiration, and much more.