Captain America: Brave New World director explains why "incredible" WWE Superstar's villain was cut from the Marvel film

Anthony Mackie as Captain America in Brave New World — (Image credit: Marvel Studios)

Captain America: Brave New World director Julius Onah has addressed why WWE Superstar Seth Rollins' role was ultimately cut from the new Marvel movie.

While exact details around Rollins' part are unknown, he would have seemingly played a member of the Serpent Society, a snake-themed group of villains pulled straight from the pages of Captain America's comics.

"When you’re taking characters like Serpent Society from publishing, who, as you know, are individuals dressed up as snakes and have snake-adjacent powers, you’re always iterating and trying to figure out the version that totally works best in a movie like this," Onah said.

On Rollins, Onah added, "I love Seth, Seth’s incredible. But as we were evolving, we knew we had an additional photography period, just one that we did early on in the process that’s planned."

“We were trying to figure out, ‘Hey, who’s somebody that can bring a very specific kind of gravitas that works with this tone?’ And when Giancarlo became available, it was such a no-brainer," Onah said.

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.