A new contender has emerged to join the cast of Spider-Man spin-off, Venom in the form of Britain’s own Riz Ahmed as he begins talks with Sony for an undisclosed role.

Related: Venom Film News

Although no word of which character he is in talks to play it has been confirmed that he will not be playing the films villain Carnage, even though he was previously linked to the character which is still yet to be cast.

Tom Hardy leads the cast as Eddie Brock, who in the comics was a photographer; Brock later becomes Venom after bonding with a Symbiote. Venom, conceived as a super villain, became somewhat of an anti hero. A Symbiote is a sentient alien, with a gooey, almost liquid-like form. With any real-world symbiotes, it requires a host, usually human, to bond with for its survival. After bonding, the Symbiote endows its enhanced powers upon the host. When the Symbiote bonds with a human, that new dual-life form refers to itself as “Venom”.

The anti-hero has already made an appearance in previous reincarnations of the Spider-man series, Back in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man 3 in 2007, Venom was played by Topher Grace.

Venom

The news that the Rogue One and The Night Of star could be joining the film has had a positive reaction online so far with many fans loving the thought that these two British stars could soon be sharing screen time together. Ahmed can next be seen in the independent film Una in a small role opposite Rooney Mara and Ben Mendelsohn about A young woman’s confrontation with a man from her past threatens to derail his new life and her mental stability.

As yet no plot details have been revealed for the Robert Fleischer directed spin-off, which will be the first in a number of planned films to be based on Spider-Man characters.

Venom is slated for an October 2018 release.