Resident Evil fans have been hounding Homelander himself, Antony Starr, about playing the iconic Albert Wesker in a future movie for years now, and for the most part, he’s been open to the idea. Just earlier this month, speaking at a Big Texas Comicon panel, he said, “Yeah, I want that role now.” But as it turns out, he isn’t all that keen on the part, and thinks the only reason he keeps getting fancast is because he’s blonde.
“I don’t even know what it is, man,” Starr said in an interview with Comicbook.com. “I’m an actor from New Zealand, and if people offer you a job you go ‘yeah,’ cause there’s not many jobs in New Zealand. So, I’m trained into thinking, if someone said, ‘Do you want that?’ Yeah, I want that! What is it?
“People keep bringing this up,” he continued. “The only thing I have in common with that is blonde hair, which I’ve gotten rid of as you can see. I think you probably need someone younger. I’m 50.”
Albert Wesker Would Actually Be Older Than Antony Starr If He Was Still Alive
While Shawn Roberts was just 25 when he took on the role in the live-action films, Lance Reddick was cast in the Netflix series at age 59, and Wesker is 48–49 in Resident Evil 5, meaning that he would be older than Antony Starr if he were still alive.
Wesker was born in 1960, Starr was born in 1975.
However, even if age wasn’t a concern for Starr, the latest live-action Resident Evil project, helmed by Weapons and Barbarian director Zach Cregger, is a wholly original story set during the Raccoon City outbreak. Given that there’s been three live-action Weskers in the last two decades alone, and two attempts to adapt the original games, it’s easy to see why creatives are more hesitant to tackle straight adaptations right now, so it’s unlikely we’ll see another Wesker anytime soon. By then, maybe Starr really will be too old.
There’s also the possibility that Starr might simply want to avoid being typecast, similar to how his co-star Giancarlo Esposito is now almost exclusively cast as variations of Gus from Breaking Bad, despite his impressive range (just watch Do the Right Thing where he stretches his criminally underused comedic chops). Jumping straight from The Boys into playing another charming blonde supervillain would certainly up the risk.
Whatever the reason, Antony Starr clearly isn’t as enthusiastic about playing Wesker as he previously made out. With The Boys’ final season airing on April 8 later this year, it’ll be interesting to see where he goes next, whether that’s another villainous role or something completely different — maybe he’ll even reprise his role as The Stray Man.
Capcom Has Suddenly Added Photo Mode To Resident Evil Requiem
One of Requiem’s biggest missing features at launch has finally been added a few weeks later.
