The first Shazam film followed Billy Batson’s journey into becoming a hero and facing his first real supervillain, Thaddeus Sivana. The character was played by Mark Strong and left quite an impression. After the credits rolled, he was visited by the sentient caterpillar Mr. Mind in jail, which led to many of us assuming they would become the main antagonists in the sequel. The recent castings have pointed the sequel in a different direction and in a recent interview with Den of Geek, Strong confirmed that he would not be returning for the sequel.
I literally spoke to the producer last night, because I saw that Zach Levi tweeted that they’re about to start shooting in Atlanta. Doctor Sivana isn’t in Shazam! 2. What’s happened is, I think Helen Mirren and Lucy Liu and perhaps someone else — they’ve got some female villains in. And to be honest with you, I’m very happy to take a back seat to some female villains and let them have a go, because judging by the work that Emma Thompson and Emma Stone have done in Cruella, it’s about time.
It’s entirely possible Sivana and Mind could return in a future project. They may be assembling the Monster Society of Evil behind the scenes so that they have a fighting chance against the newly founded Shazamily. Shazam: Fury of the Gods will release in 2023 and will see the additions of Luci Liu and Helen Mirren in antagonistic roles.
Source: Den of Geeks via Heroic Hollywood
