Captain America 4 Adding Giancarlo Esposito Last Minute, Reshoots & Serpent Society Changes Addressed By MCU Sequel Director

By Ollie Bradley

Published Feb 8, 2025

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Custom image by Yailin Chacon.

Giancarlo Esposito's involvement as Seth Voelker, AKA Sidewinder, means that Sam Wilson's first solo outing on the big screen will be stacked with villains. Traditionally, Sidewinder is the leader of the Serpent Society, a lesser-known union of villains that typically boast snake-like powers, though it appears their big-screen debut will sidestep their outlandish origins.

In an exclusive interview with ScreenRant's Liam Crowley, director Julius Onah reflected on what Giancarlo Esposito's last-minute addition during reshoots brought to Captain America: Brave New World and how he was developed to fit the grounded tone. Onah clarified that, while some fans are concerned about the number of reshoots and the last-minute addition of Esposito, they were always part of the wider plan for shooting the movie and that he has every faith in Esposito's ability to bring a compelling new villain to the MCU. His full quote is as follows:

Liam Crowley: We obviously know this film, like all Marvel films, went through some reshoots, but what I found so fascinating with these reshoots is you added Giancarlo Esposito in the reshoots. What did having his presence as an actor on set for the reshoots do for this film?

Julius Onah: It's incredibly exciting. All these movies have additional photography planned from the very beginning. And when you are bringing Serpent Society to the screen for the first time, you're trying to find how do you make sure these characters live in this tone? This is a grounded, paranoid, and political thriller, and you want everything to feel authentic and have a sense of realism to it. So when we were going into our additional photography process, knowing that Giancarlo was available, it's like hell yeah. And he also has a very special history for me. My career got started because of Spike Lee. I interned for him when I was 19 years old. Giancarlo has worked on some seminal Spike Lee films, especially Do The Right Thing. So the opportunity to get to work with somebody who was a real hero of mine and connected to my personal history was so, so exciting. He was connected to Mackie as well, so he came in and he was helping us cement Serpent Society and Sidewinder as this real cunning, ruthless, intelligent villain that really fit in the tone of the film and it's going to be a real benefit to the audience when they go on the wild ride of this paranoid thriller."

"Liam Crowley: Yeah, I where I was when Captain America: Serpent Society was announced. I watching that slate revealed and being like, oh, we're getting Civil War, but I still want to see Serpent Society one day. And here we are. I know there were some set photos from early on. I'm a big wrestling fan. Seth Rollins was once a part of this film and it seemed like he was going to be a key piece of Serpent Society. Did the concept behind what Serpent Society would become change a lot over the course of production?

Julius Onah: As I said, when you're making a film like this, especially trying to honor the source and publishing Serpent Society, who were a bunch of characters who dressed up in snakes and they had snake outfits and they had snake adjacent powers. So you're exploring, you're trying things and when you are really trying to make sure that that tone is coherent and consistent, and that was so important to me. I'm coming from a real love of paranoid and political thrillers, but also making grounded films. When we went back to this pre-planned additional photography process and we just did one moment of that, we wanted to make sure that everything really came together perfectly. Again, Giancarlo was just such a no-brainer to bring Sidewinder to life and lean into a version of Serpent Society that felt grounded, that was this mercenary group that was similar to the ones you would see in the real world, and that could be this real adversary to our grounded hero of Sam Wilson.

What The Captain America: Brave New World Director's Comments Mean For The MCU Movie

Reshoots Are Standard Practice For Every MCU Movie

While there have been ripples of concern among MCU fans regarding Captain America: Brave New World's reshoots, Onah's comments build upon similar ones made by Anthony Mackie in an interview with Esquire. Here, he asserted "Every movie that Marvel has made, every movie that DC has made—Star Wars, Star Trek, Disney—has done reshoots." It stands to reason, therefore, that in the vast gulf of time between the last three MCU movies, Captain America: Brave New World would resume standard practice to ensure it is the best product it can be.

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Onah's comments also lend credence to the notions that Esposito's Sidewinder will not only be a valuable addition to the movie but that he will strike a decidedly more grounded tone than his comic book counterpart. In the comics, Sidewinder can travel through dimensions thanks to a special cloak, something which will likely elude Esposito's adaptation. The Serpent Society, meanwhile, operates as a snake-themed mercenary group - meaning Captain America: Brave New World will likely lean into their mercenary roles while avoiding any snake-themed abilities.

Our Take On The Captain America: Brave New World Director's Comments

Giancarlo Esposito Is A Valuable Addition, No Matter How Late

Julius Onah's comments fill me with confidence that Captain America: Brave New World has been honed as much as possible. Giancarlo Esponsito is a particularly valuable addition to the MCU (as is Harrison Ford), and I can see how his addition will help Captain America: Brave New World to strike a similar tone as one of the greatest MCU movies of all time: Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Whether Esposito's take on Sidewinder will be grounded enough to counterbalance the inclusion of Red Hulk remains to be seen, but I'm optimistic nonetheless.