Venom: The Last Dance director talks developing the story with Tom Hardy: “Getting to collaborate with your best mate of over 20 years is really a beautiful thing”

Tom Hardy might be the man bringing both Eddie Brock and his symbiote pal Venom to life, but he’s just as involved behind the scenes, too. On Venom: The Last Dance, Hardy worked to develop the story with director Kelly Marcel, and he’s also a producer on the threequel.

“We’re really lucky in that we’ve been able to break story together on these films,” Marcel tells GamesRadar+ of working with Hardy. “So, during Venom 1, we were figuring out what the story of Venom 2 was. During Venom 2, we figured out what Venom 3 would be. Tom and I have spent the best part of eight years working on these movies, and getting to collaborate with your best mate of over 20 years is really a beautiful thing, and I think we’re both incredibly grateful to Sony for letting us do it. Collaborating with him is a blast. He’s got lots and lots and lots of ideas.” 

The movie also sees the introduction of Juno Temple’s Dr. Payne and Chiwetel Ejiofor’s Rex Strickland, with both actors making their Sony-verse debut. 

“When I first got to England and we started doing rehearsal moments, or talking through the script moments, there was a day where he came and he hung out, and he just wanted to hang out with us, too,” Temple tells us of working with Hardy. “It just felt like being asked to be a part of this movie was something that really meant something to Tom and Kelly, because their journey has been going on for almost a decade with the Venom franchise. And I think it really shows in the relationship between Eddie and Venom that friendship has mattered to them really off-camera and on-camera. So when you get asked, when it’s Kelly’s first directorial debut, to be joining The Last Dance, it felt quite meaningful from a personal aspect.”

“I feel privileged just to be engaged in that way,” adds Ejiofor. “I think that was the whole thing about it, everything was filled with so much passion and, really, from Tom and Kelly, just this real sense of their own personal, nearly decade-long commitment to this. And so, just to be around that, and be part of that, was really great.” 

Venom: The Last Dance is in theaters this October 25. While you wait, check out our guides to all the upcoming superhero movies and how to watch the Spider-Man movies in order. You can also see what Marcel had to say about introducing Knull, and why he’s like Thanos, or Temple and Ejiofor on joining the Venom world.