Sony has been on a hot streak with their Spider-Verse films, including Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, the Venom films, and the upcoming Morbius. However, one of the more intriguing future Spider-centric projects has been their Madame Web movie, starring Dakota Johnson in the title role. Now, Deadline reports that Euphoria’s Sydney Sweeney has joined the film's cast in an unknown role.
The film is being directed by S.J. Clarkson and written by Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless, from a previous draft by Kerem Sanga. Not much is known about the project yet. However, in the comics Madame Web is an elderly woman suffering from debilitating physical illnesses, whose powers come from her connection to a massive life-support system resembling a spiderweb. As Johnson is nearly elderly nor ill, it is assumed that Sony's depiction of the character will move in a much different direction.
Madame Web is probably best known as a character from the 1994 Spider-Man animated series, and the 2010 critically acclaimed game Spider-Man: Shattered Dimensions, where she played a major supporting role in both continuities. Her character usually acts as Spider-Man's “woman in the chair”, and she has been a part of some major multiverse stories. This is key, since No Way Home just opened up the Spider-Verse floodgates with the return of both Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield’s versions of the Web-Head. On top of that, due to Madame Web possessing psychic sensory powers, Deadline’s insiders say that Sony views the character as their version of Doctor Strange.
This all makes the addition of Sweeney all the more exciting. The actress has been one of the breakout stars of HBO’s hit shows Euphoria and The White Lotus. Also, her film career is starting to heat up, with starring roles in Amazon’s The Voyeurs and Blumhouse’s Nocturne, the latter of which is one of the most underrated horror movies of the last handful of years.
Sweeney has shown us through all her roles that she has great range. Her characters in Euphoria and Nocturne especially showcased the actress' ability to play a satisfying villain. Because of this, it will be interesting to see what kind of role Sweeney will play and how this film will ultimately come together given the gray area of the actual plot. Madame Web is still in very early development, but we are sure to learn more once additional casting is revealed and the film gets closer to filming.