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Liam Neeson Wanted For ‘Deadpool 2’ Villain, But There’s A Problem

By Gregory Wakeman
Published on: 08:43 PST, Aug 16, 2016

After grossing $782.6 million at the box office, there’s clearly quite a lot of excitement surrounding Deadpool’s follow-up. Twentieth Century Fox immediately greenlit a sequel once Deadpool’s box office started to grow and grow and grow, and it’s been widely reported that Deadpool 2 will arrive in 2018.

That means director Tim Miller, producers Lauren Shuler Donner, Ryan Reynolds, and Simon Kinberg, and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick, as well as 20th Century Fox itself, are currently hard at work discussing who will be involved in Deadpool 2 ahead of the start of production in 2017.

Those of you that stuck around to the end of Deadpool know that the sequel is definitely going include the legendary comic book character Cable, who has been a constant figure opposite Wade Wilson/Deadpool in the comics. That’s because Wilson himself announced that the sequel will include Cable in Deadpool’s post-credits scene.

Once the film had been released in February, this revelation immediately led to speculation over who might actually play Cable in the film. Earlier this week, it was alleged that Kyle Chandler would be cast in the part, with speculation suggesting that he has been director Tim Miller’s first choice for a while.

However, it’s now been rumored that 20th Century Fox is much keener on casting Liam Neeson as Cable. But there’s just one problem: Tim Miller doesn’t want the Irish actor to play the villain.

This speculation appeared online courtesy of Umberto Gonzalez on Twitter, who alleged that Fox and Miller are currently in disagreement over who should be cast in the role.

It’s no surprise that 20th Century Fox wants Liam Neeson to be involved in Deadpool 2, because they’ve previously had plenty of success with the actor.

Twentieth Century Fox distributed each of the Taken films, which over the course of the trilogy grossed just under $930 million at the box office having cost around $150 million to produce all three. They also happened to turn Liam Neeson into an action star and proved that he had a huge appeal at the box office.

Liam Neeson’s recent success at the box office is seen as the main reason why 20th Century Fox is currently trying to convince Tim Miller to cast him as Cable, as they believe that it will increase anticipation for Deadpool 2, especially since the thought of Ryan Reynolds and Liam Neeson fighting on screen should be rather impressive to see.

However, according to reports, Miller is adamant that Kyle Chandler is the actor he wants for the role. Chandler has developed a scintillating CV over the last decade, having appeared on Friday Nights Live, for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series, as well as supporting roles in King Kong, Argo, Super 8, Zero Dark Thirty, The Wolf of Wall Street, and Carol.

But while Chandler is obviously a fine and talented actor, he lacks the box office draw of Liam Neeson, which is why the studio is dubious over his appointment.

With filming on Deadpool 2 due to begin in early 2017, we can expect an end to this alleged dispute to emerge in the next few weeks and months. As well as the inclusion of Cable, it has also been rumored that Deadpool favorite Domino will also be included in the sequel, with Mackenzie Davis being lined up for the part.

[Image via 20th Century Fox]

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