Charles Melton was missing from the cast announcement of Jake Schreier’s MCU X-Men movie at this year’s D23, following rumours that he would play Beast, but he may soon show up at Konoha Village. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Riverdale star is in talks for a key role in Lionsgate’s upcoming live-action Naruto film, set to be directed by Spider-Man: Brand New Day helmer Destin Daniel Cretton — Kakashi Hatake.
The news comes amid a global search for Team 7, comprising Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, with filming scheduled to start around February 2027. A persistent fan-favourite, Kakashi is the mentor figure to the trio in the original manga by Masashi Kishimoto, who is overseeing the project. Cretton also serves as writer and co-producer, alongside Avi Arad, Ari Arad, Emmy Yu, and Jeremy Latcham.
Serialised in Japan’s Weekly Shonen Jump magazine from 1999 to 2014, Naruto follows the titular ninja character who seeks recognition from his peers and dreams of becoming the Hokage, the leader of his village. It sold over 250 million copies in more than 60 countries during that time and received an anime adaptation in 2002, followed by Naruto Shippuden from 2007 to 2017. Not much else is known about the live-action take, including a release date, and whether it will adapt the events in the source material or tell a new storyline altogether remains unclear.
What’s certain, though, is that Melton has the credentials to bring Kakashi to life. In addition to being a longtime fan of the anime, the actor is proficient in taekwondo and holds a second-degree black belt in the martial art. He’s coming off the second season of the Netflix anthology Beef, for which he landed an Emmy nomination, with Alex Garland’s Warfare and Nicolas Winding Refn’s Her Private Hell among his other credits.
Cretton, meanwhile, won’t be resting on his laurels. With Spider-Man: Brand New Day swinging to a whopping US$2 billion globally and setting multiple new box-office records, he will next work on the sequel to 2021’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which currently has no release date.
Si Jia is a casual geek at heart – or as casual as someone with Sephiroth’s theme on her Spotify playlist can get. A fan of movies, games, and Japanese culture, Si Jia’s greatest weakness is the Steam Summer Sale. Or any Steam sale, really.
Kevin Low
