Three months after announcing the project at Marvel's SDCC 2026 panel, the studio is making moves on casting the movie, tapping Heated Rivalry star Connor Storrie to star.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Storrie is in talks to star in Ghost Rider alongside Ryan Gosling. Although Gosling's role has yet to be officially confirmed, it is presumed he is playing the flaming skull-headed stunt motorcycle rider Johnny Blaze, who transforms into the supernatural anti-hero after making a deal with the devil. Riding around on his fiery bike, Blaze goes after criminals and villains and punishes them with his demonic powers.
Storrie recently found fame starring as the Russian hockey player Ilya Rozanov in Crave's hot Canadian sports romance TV show Heated Rivalry. It has not been confirmed who Storrie will be playing in Marvel's Ghost Rider adaptation, but it is thought that he will portray the villain of the story. Ghost Rider has a string of foes in the comics, including Mephisto, Mephisto’s son Blackheart, and a few ancient demons and angels. But Mephisto already exists in the MCU, played by Sacha Baron Cohen, so Storrie cannot be him.
One Marvel head is sure that Storrie is playing Danny Ketch. "What if, instead, [Storrie] is filling the flaming skull of another Spirit of Vengeance?" said Charles Murphy of Murphy's Universe, adding, "this narrative architecture solves Marvel Studios’ biggest creative challenge with the property: how to ground two distinct generations of Ghost Rider without retreading the origin story told in 2007’s Nicolas Cage film."
Danny Ketch is not so much a villain, but another version of Ghost Rider. First introduced in 1990, Danny transforms into the Ghost Rider after watching his sister be shot by a gang. Out of nowhere, a motorcycle appeared, and when he place sis bloody hand on its sigil, he transformed into the undead anti-hero. Ketch is later revealed as the long-lost brother of the original Ghost Rider, Blaze. If this is the direction Marvel is going in, the casting would make sense, as Gosling and Storrie could pass as siblings.
The movie is directed by Deadpool and Wolverine helmer Shawn Levy and written by Jonathan Tropper.
Marvel Studios' Ghost Rider is set to start production in New York next year and is set to hit theaters on July 28, 2028. For more, keep up with other upcoming Marvel movies and shows.
