The Ghost Rider property has scored some solid live-action representation over the last decade and a half, with Nicolas Cage playing Johnny Blaze in two movies and Terminator: Dark Fate’s Gabriel Luna appearing as Robbie Reyes in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Season 4. However, given the latter series’ questionable status in the official Marvel Cinematic Universe canon, it’s safe to say we could be seeing a different Ghost Rider in this superhero franchise at some point. Evidently The Walking Dead’s Norman Reedus is interested in the role judging by his social media activity.
Best known for playing Daryl Dixon on the long-running AMC series and Murphy McManus in the Boondock Saints movies, Norman Reedus has been liking tweets from supporters who think he’d make a good Ghost Rider. Reedus also shared an Instagram post depicting fan art as the fiery superhero and passing along the rumor that Marvel Studios has already picked an actor to bring the character to life. Assuming this is true, it remains to be seen if Reedus is that actor, but The Walking Dead star has made it clear on numerous occasions that he wants to play Ghost Rider, including telling Comicbook.com back in July that he wants his “face to turn into a fire skull and whip a chain around.”
If Norman Reedus were to join the MCU as Ghost Rider or any other character, he’d just be the latest Walking Dead actor to step foot in this massive franchise, with others including Michael Rooker, Danai Gurira, Ross Marquand and Lauren Ridloff. And as if droves of fan support wasn’t enough to at least put Reedus on Marvel Studios’ scopes, The Walking Dead showrunner Angela Kang also recently voiced her support for the actor playing Ghost Rider.
Just saying… Norman Reedus as Ghost Rider WOULD be rad 🔥💀🏍😈December 27, 2021
Norman Reedus already has a little Marvel experience under his belt voicing Frank Castle, a.k.a. The Punisher, in the animated movie Iron Man: Rise of Technovore. Needless to say though that playing the latest live-action interpretation of Ghost Rider is a higher-profile gig, whether it happens in a movie or Disney+ series. Of course, scheduling would need to be an issue overcome to make this happen, because even though The Walking Dead will conclude in 2022, Reedus is set to star in a spinoff centered on Daryl and Melissa McBride’s Carol Peletier.
While there haven’t been any Ghost Rider-related teases yet in the MCU, between Doctor Strange opening this franchise’s supernatural doors and more horror-centric projects like Blade and Werewolf by Night (the latter being a Halloween special for Disney+) on the way, it’s a solid bet that we could see Ghost Rider, specifically the Johnny Blaze version, racing around in the coming years. Following his time on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., there were plans for Gabriel Luna to reprise Robbie Reyes in a Ghost Rider series for Hulu. However, the streaming service scrapped the show in September 2019.
If/when Marvel announces who will play the new Ghost Rider, whether it’s Norman Reedus or someone else, we here at CinemaBlend will let you know. In the meantime, check out what the MCU has coming up in our Marvel movies guide and Marvel TV shows guide. The second half of The Walking Dead’s final season will premiere in late February on AMC.
