Carnage is about to reign.
Sony has finally released the first teaser trailer for the Venom sequel Let There Be Carnage which promises a brutal fight between Tom Hardy’s symbiotic anti-hero and Woody Harrelson’s serial killer, who becomes an even worse creature.
Venom’s return
2018’s Venom was a surprise smash hit with Hardy as Eddie Brock, a disgraced journalist who gains possession of an alien symbiote. The pair battle it out for control before managing to work together as a creature called Venom.
The film ended with them becoming the “protector” of their San Francisco neighborhood as Eddie presses on his alien half not to kill anyone.
The post-credits scene had Eddie heading to the Ravencroft Institute to interview imprisoned serial killer Cletus Kasady (Harrelson), who promised that one day he would escape and “there will be carnage.”
The trailer opens humorously by showing Eddie and the symbiote having a simple morning with the alien helping make breakfast before they go on the job.
Eddie then meets with Kasady as it appears they have formed an odd bond through interviews and claiming they’re much the same.
Detective Peter Mulligan (Stephen Graham) is shown reading the Daily Bugle in disgust. It then cuts to what appears to be Kasady being executed for his crimes only to instead transform into Carnage.
The trailer also shows Frances Barrison (Naomie Harris), a young woman in a glass cell who lets out a sonic scream, indicating she becomes the villainess Shriek.
Some action follows, including the first full shot of Carnage in his bloody glory. There’s also a scene of part of the symbiote reaching toward Mulligan, hinting he might become the symbiote Toxin.
It ends on a lighter note with the symbiote threatening to kill a local grocer, who annoys Eddie and the symbiote by stating that the “chocolate delivery hasn’t arrived yet.”
Eddie and Cletus
The film is one of several to have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic delays. It was to debut in October of 2020, then shifted to June 2021 before settling on September 24.
Speaking to IGN, director Andy Serkis emphasized that a key part of the movie will be examining the twisted relationship between Eddie and Cletus, which leads to their war as symbiotes.
“It seems that, from the way that we lead into this story, they have formed some sort of relationship and he’s the only person that Kasady will talk to. And it’s because there’s something in both of their personalities. In fact, there’s a similarity in that they’ve both had strange upbringings with strange relationships with their parents and their families. There’s sort of an inherent loneliness that they both recognize in each other.”
This connection would be an intriguing turn as in the comic, Eddie’s career was ruined when he did a series of interviews with a man claiming to be a serial killer only to turn out to be a fraud.
Besides Hardy, Harrelson, Harris, and Graham, the cast includes Michelle Williams returning as Eddie’s ex-fiancee Anne, and Reid Scott as her new boyfriend, and Peggy Lu.
The trailer shows that the movie promises an even darker ride than the first Venom film and that both symbiotes are ready to paint the town red in all the wrong ways.
Venom: Let There Be Carnage premieres in theaters September 24.