Florence Pugh Confirms ‘Thunderbolts’ Has Begun Filming

Florence Pugh is a busy bee, so it wasn’t totally surprising when she wasn’t there over the weekend when Oppenheimer won Best Ensemble at the SAGs. While Pugh could’ve easily just been doing press commitments for this week’s release of Dune: Part Two, the actual reason for her absence is a bit of a surprise: Thunderbolts is already shooting.

Pugh revealed the news to ETOnline while at the New York City premiere of the Dune sequel:

“I’m honored that I’ve been able to do the most bizarre press tour for both movies at these same time. And I’ve just started my next movie, my next Marvel movie, ‘Thunderbolts’ and I’ve been shooting that.”

She continued, “I couldn’t make it last night, unfortunately, because I was working, but I managed to squeeze this one in. I feel very grateful that I’ve managed to juggle all of them at the same time. It’s a huge honor to be part of such amazing productions and to be part of such an amazing set of crew, the cast. It’s truly like one of those bizarre moments in my life where I know I’ll never be juggling this much level of pride [again].”

In Thunderbolts, Pugh returns to the role of Yelena Belova, the new Black Widow and adopted sister to the deceased Avenger, Natasha Romanoff. She’s joined by Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes, Wyatt Russell as John Walker, David Harbour as Reg Guardian, Olga Kurylenko as Antonia Dreykov aka Taskmaster, Hannah John-Kamen as Ava Starr aka Ghost, Harrison Ford as Thunderbolt Ross, Julia Louis-Dreyfus as Valentina Allegra de Fontaine, and Lewis Pullman as The Sentry. Geraldine Viswanathan also has a role, while it’s possible we’ll see Laurence Fishburne back as Bill Foster and Rachel Weisz as Melina Vostokoff aka Iron Maiden.

Thunderbolts hits theaters on May 2nd 2025, directed by Jake Schreier. Pugh will be seen in Dune: Part Two this Friday, and you shouldn’t miss it.

Travis Hopson
Travis Hopson has been reviewing movies before he even knew there was such a thing. Having grown up on a combination of bad '80s movies, pro wrestling, comic books, and hip-hop, Travis is uniquely positioned to geek out on just about everything under the sun. A vampire who walks during the day and refuses to sleep, Travis is the co-creator and lead writer for Punch Drunk Critics. He is also a contributor to Good Morning Washington, WBAL Morning News, and WETA Around Town. In the five minutes a day he's not working, Travis is also a voice actor, podcaster, and Twitch gamer. Travis is a voting member of the Critics Choice Association (CCA), Washington DC Area Film Critics Association (WAFCA), and Late Night programmer for the Lakefront Film Festival.