EXCLUSIVE: After a breakout year that included starring roles in HBO’s The White Lotus and Euphoria, Sydney Sweeney is now ready to jump into Sony’s Universe of Marvel Characters. Sources tell Deadline that she has joined Dakota Johnson in Sony Pictures’ Madame Web. S.J. Clarkson is on board to direct the pic. Matt Sazama and Burk Sharpless penned the screenplay, with Kerem Sanga also penning a previous draft.
In the comics, Madame Web is depicted as an elderly woman with myasthenia gravis and thus was connected to a life-support system that looked like a spider web. Due to her age and medical condition, Madame Web never actively fought any villains. For that reason, sources have stressed it’s possible the project could turn into something else. Insiders say due to her psychic sensory powers, she is essentially Sony’s version of Doctor Strange. It is unknown who Sweeney will be playing in the film.
Sony is coming off a hot streak with Venom: Let There Be Carnage making more than $500 million worldwide, while Spider-Man: No Way Home was the biggest film of 2021 with $1.85 billion in worldwide sales.
Not only is Sweeney on one of the hottest shows of the year in Euphoria (HBO recently announced it is the network’s second most-viewed show behind only Game of Thrones), she clearly came away as one of the big winners from this season and has quickly jumped to the top of every major studio lists for young rising stars. Sources say Sweeney had been weighing several offers in recent weeks, but the opportunity to join Johnson in what would be the first female-centric film in this universe was too good to pass up.
Sweeney has had a busy 12 months that started with her scene-stealing role on another hit HBO series White Lotus. On the film side she had starring roles in The Voyeurs for Amazon and Blumhouse’s Nocturne. She is currently filming Tony Tost’s National Anthem, which also stars Simon Rex and Halsey.
She is repped by Paradigm and Hansen Jacobson Teller.