Marvel Studios' Fantastic Four swaps out writers, as Josh Friedman boards the project
The movie remains on track for a February 14, 2025 debut
Things are changing for the Richards clan, with new reports emerging that Marvel Studios has brought in veteran screenwriter Josh Friedman to create a new script for the upcoming Fantastic Four movie.
The Hollywood Reporter has the exclusive that Friedman — known for co-creating Apple’s Foundation series, showrunning Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles, and most recently being part of the writers room for James Cameron’s Avatar sequels — has been brought on board the movie, replacing outgoing writers Jeff Kaplan and Ian Springer.
As THR notes, the change might reflect a change in direction for the movie, with Kaplan and Springer best known for writing comedy screenplays, whereas Friedman’s background is in more adventure-centric science-fiction. Beyond the projects mentioned above, he also worked on Terminator: Dark Fate, Steven Spielberg’s War of The Worlds, and developed TNT’s small screen version of Snowpiercer.
Curiously, Friedman's arrival marks the second time Marvel Studios has swapped out the writers on a project in the past few days; earlier this week, Thunderbolts added Lee Sung Jin as a new writer, replacing the previously announced Eric Pearson.
Matt Shakman, who worked on Marvel’s WandaVision, remains attached to Fantastic Four as director, and the movie is still scheduled for release February 14, 2025. (Check out our schedule of upcoming superhero movie releases for more information on what’s coming out and when.)
No cast has yet been named for the movie.
Elsewhere at Marvel Studios, the studio continues its public war with former visual effects president Victoria Alonso.
