Tom Hardy Already Plans ‘Venom 3’ Because ‘Studio Very Pleased’ with ‘Let There Be Carnage’

Tom Hardy is returning to the “Venom” franchise next month in the Andy Serkis-directed “Venom: Let There Be Carnage,” but the actor is already looking ahead to making his run as the Spider-Man villain last at least a trilogy long. In an interview with Esquire magazine, Hardy confirmed he’s already planning a third “Venom” movie. The actor was more involved in the writing process for “Venom: Let There Be Carnage” and even earned his first “story by” credit alongside screenwriter Kelly Marcel.

“I’m thinking about the third movie as well, because I think you need to write that at the same time,” Hardy said. “A third won’t be greenlit until the second is successful, but the studio [was] really, really pleased with number two.”

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Could a third movie find Hardy’s Venom facing off against Spider-Man? The superhero is currently played by Tom Holland in the Marvel Cinematic Universe thanks to a pact between Sony and Disney, so rights issues will have to be squared away before that can happen. Whether or not Holland and Hardy come face to face in a potential “Venom 3” remains to be seen, but Hardy hopes it can happen at some point down the road.

“I would be remiss if I wasn’t trying to steer any kind of connectivity,” Hardy said. “I wouldn’t be doing the job if I wasn’t awake and open to any opportunity or eventuality or be excited by that. Obviously, that’s a large canyon to leap, to be bridged by one person alone, and it would take a much higher level of diplomacy and intelligence, sitting down and talking, to take on an arena such as that.

Hardy continued, “Should both sides be willing, and it be beneficial to both sides, I don’t see why it couldn’t be. I hope and strongly, with both hands, push, eagerly, towards that potential, and would do anything to make that happen, within what’s right in business. But it would be foolish not to head towards the Olympic Games if you were running 100 meters, so yeah! I want to play on that field.”

Hardy was also asked by Esquire about “Mad Max: Fury Road,” and he gave a response fans will appreciate: “That was ultimately Furiosa’s movie, which was fantastic. Fury Road. Furiosa. It was in the title. It was interesting how that one unpacked. If you look at it now, it was a changeover of hands in a way, from Mad Max to Furiosa. That’s what they’re filming now. Furiosa. It was a very well implemented changing of the guard. [Miller’s] still got Mad Max, but he’s split his feed between two characters, and that’s really, really cool.”

“Venom: Let There Be Carnage” is currently set to be released on September 24.

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