'Ant-Man and the Wasp' Cast, News: Michael Douglas to Return as Hank Pym
Michael Douglas will reprise his role as Dr. Hank Pym in the highly anticipated sequel, "Ant-Man and the Wasp." The actor himself made the announcement.
He took to his Facebook page to reveal the good news, on which he posted a photo of himself standing next to a poster of the first "Ant-Man" movie.
"Getting ready to play Dr. Pym again in Ant-Man 2 shooting in July," he wrote in the caption. "Need to start growing the goatee now," he quipped.
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While the return of Douglas in "Ant-Man and the Wasp" comes as a little surprise to fans, he noted in the past that he would like to have less exposure in the sequel.
Back in 2015, he told Entertainment Weekly that he "welcomes" the idea of reprising his role in the second "Ant-Man" film.
Around that time, he was already offered to return and was even fascinated with the idea of being part of a movie that will not hit the big screen until 2018.
"Hopefully, I won't have to carry quite as much expositional dialogue as the first one, but I had a wonderful time doing it," he said of coming back for "Ant-Man and the Wasp."
As revealed by Douglas on his post, the production will begin this July. The film is slated to come out the same month next year. Pre-production should begin in Atlanta "soon," as per the ever-reliable film insider and photographer, Atlanta Filming.
As the title suggests, "Ant-Man and the Wasp" will see a new adventure of Paul Rudd's character but this time with the spotlight on Hope (Evangeline Lilly) as well.
The "Ant-Man" sequel will also see Michael Pena play the role of his scene stealer of a character, Luis — one of the "three Wombats" and Scott Lang's good friend.
It is still unclear if the rest of Lang's ragtag team Kurt (David Dastmalchian) and Dave (Tip Harris) will be back as well although fans could only hope.
"Ant-Man and the Wasp" hits cinemas July 6, 2018.
