Sebastian Stan says he “never would have thought” Bucky Barnes would end up where he is in Marvel’s Thunderbolts

Next year will see Sebastian Stan step onto the screen as Bucky Barnes, AKA the Winter Soldier, for the first time in almost half a decade in Marvel’s Thunderbolts* – and the actor says he never could have guessed where the character would end up. 

“It’s always been fun for me to come back to him after all these years because you’re growing as a person, and then the character ends up growing,” Stan tells GamesRadar+ when we sit down with him in London to discuss his new movie, A Different Man. 

Thunderbolts* will see him reprise his MCU role for the first time since 2021’s Disney Plus series The Falcon and the Winter Soldier – and for the first time on the big screen since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame. This time around, he’s teaming up with a bunch of fellow misfit antiheroes, including Yelena Belova (Florence Pugh) and John Walker (Wyatt Russell).

“I never would have thought we would have ended up where we have with him, but it’s a very interesting group of characters, and they all bring out different sides of themselves,” Stan continues. “I think [Bucky] finds himself way more suited to them than initially maybe he wants to admit, but he’s always an evolving character, and that’s what I love about him. It’s always trying to find another way of expressing. I think it’ll be fun. I think people will be excited for the movie.”

Before Thunderbolts*, though, is A Different Man. Stan plays Edward, an aspiring actor with neurofibromatosis who undergoes an experimental treatment to give him a new face. However, his new life is derailed when he discovers a play is being made about his former self – and someone else is playing him. Under the Skin’s Adam Pearson and The Worst Person in the World’s Renate Reinsve also star. 

A Different Man arrives in theaters on October 4, while Thunderbolts is set to hit the big screen on May 2, 2025. For more, get up to speed with the MCU with our guide to the story so far in Marvel Phase 5 and a look at what’s to come in Marvel Phase 6.