As he heads to a galaxy far, far away for his Star Wars franchise debut, Ryan Gosling has his sights set on the MCU next.
The 3x Oscar nominee recently teased that he’s had “some discussions” with Marvel Studios about a potential onscreen turn as Ghost Rider, after first throwing his hat into the casting ring back in 2022.
“We’ll keep hope alive,” said Gosling on the Happy Sad Confused podcast. “Some discussions have been had. It’s a complicated situation.”
Shortly after Gosling announced his interest in the role back in 2022, Marvel boss Kevin Feige said he’d “love to find a place for him in the MCU,” while he was filming Barbie (2023).
“Hey man, if Ryan wants to be Ghost Rider … Gosling’s unbelievable,” Feige told podcast host Josh Horowitz, adding: “Ryan is amazing… I’d love to find a place for him in the MCU. He’s dressed up as Ken on Venice Beach and gets more press than giant movies coming out that weekend. It’s amazing.”
The role of the hotheaded, vengeance-seeking biker Johnny Blaze, who made a deal with the devil to save his father’s life, was previously originated onscreen by Nicolas Cage in Ghost Rider (2007), which coincidentally starred Gosling’s partner Eva Mendes as childhood sweetheart Roxanne Simpson.
With Gosling’s upcoming starring role in Star Wars: Starfighter, premiering May 28, 2027 in theaters, the actor is taking on one of his first major film franchises, crediting director Shawn Levy for persuading him to sign onto the project.
“It was Shawn’s enthusiasm and his vision and the script,” Gosling said last month. “And I just avoided these things because they never felt right. And I’m glad I did because I feel like, [similar to] a book like this, [it was] worth waiting for. And it is like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”