Sydney Sweeney, of “Euphoria” and “White Lotus” fame, has joined “Madame Web,” a comic book tentpole set in Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters.
Sweeney’s role has not been announced. As previously reported, Dakota Johnson has been cast as the title character. In the comics, Madame Web is a paralyzed, elderly woman with myasthenia gravis, a chronic autoimmune disorder requiring her to connect to a life support system resembling a spider web.
S.J. Clarkson, known for her work on the darker Marvel series “Jessica Jones” and “The Defenders,” which moved from Netflix to Disney Plus, has been hired to direct “Madame Web.” Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, the duo behind Jared Leto’s upcoming vampire chiller “Morbius,” will write the screenplay.
Plot details have been kept under wraps. In the comics, Madame Web is introduced as a blind clairvoyant mutant whose abilities prove to be greatly beneficial to Spider-Man and his fellow arachnid allies, like Spider-Woman. Given her condition, though, she’s never battled villains herself.
“Madame Web,” Sony’s first modern comic book adaptation to feature a female in the headlining role, is one of several Spider-Man related spinoffs in development. Following the continued success of Tom Holland’s Spider-Man trilogy, Sony is crafting its own separate and expanding film franchise, one that is anchored by Marvel Comics villains like Venom, Morbius and Kraven the Hunter.
Sweeney, through scene-stealing roles on HBO’s hit shows “Euphoria” and “White Lotus,” has perfected the art of portraying a terrifying Gen-Z teen. She’s currently in production on “National Anthem,” opposite Simon Rex and Halsey, for Bron Studios.
Her other film credits include Amazon’s psychosexual thriller “The Voyeurs” and “Big Time Adolescence” with Pete Davidson. On the TV side, she’s also appeared on “The Handmaid’s Tale” and HBO’s miniseries “Sharp Objects,” starring Amy Adams. She recently launched the production company Fifty-Fifty Films, whose first project will be a television adaption of Jessica Goodman’s novel “They Wish They Were Us.”
Deadline Hollywood first reported the news of Sweeney’s casting.
