BAFTA winner Jack O’Connell (Sinners) has closed a deal to join the next theatrical feature in Legendary’s Monsterverse franchise, Deadline can reveal.
Character details are being kept under wraps. O’Connell joins a cast that includes Kaitlyn Dever, as well as Dan Stevens, who reprises his role as veterinarian Trapper Beasley from last year’s Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, the franchise’s highest-grossing installment to date.
Grant Sputore is set to direct from a script by Dave Callaham. Plot details have been kept vague so far, though we’re told the next entry will feature several new human characters alongside Titans Godzilla and Kong, as they face off against a cataclysmic world-ending threat. Sputore took over the directorial reins from Adam Wingard following the latter’s work on The New Empire and 2021’s Godzilla vs. Kong.
10+ years in, Legendary’s Monsterverse franchise launched with 2014’s Godzilla and also includes Kong: Skull Island and Godzilla: King of the Monsters, as well as Netflix’s animated spin-off Skull Island and the Apple TV+ series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. The films have collectively grossed over $2.5 billion worldwide.
O’Connell has a big year ahead, with the release of two of 2025’s most anticipated genre films: Ryan Coogler’s Sinners and Danny Boyle’s 28 Years Later. The actor plays a villain role opposite twin Michael B. Jordans in Sinners, a supernatural horror film that Warner Bros is preparing to release on April 15. Sony is the studio behind 28 Years Later, the next film in the 28 Days Later zombie series, releasing June 20, which generated huge buzz off of its first trailer. O’Connell stars there opposite Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ralph Fiennes, Jodie Comer and more.
Recently seen in the Amy Winehouse biopic Back to Black and Michael Mann’s Ferrari, O’Connell’s other notable past film credits include Lady Chatterley’s Lover, Seberg, Money Monster, Unbroken, and Starred Up. Recently exec producing and starring in the series Rogue Heroes for MGM+, the thesp is repped by Conway van Gelder Grant in the UK, UTA, Range Media Partners, and Sloane, Offer, Weber & Dern.
