Charles Melton just picked his franchise, and it’s not the X-Men.
Per an exclusive from The Hollywood Reporter, the Beef star is in final negotiations to play Kakashi Hatake in Lionsgate’s live-action Naruto movie from Spider-Man: Brand New Day director Destin Daniel Cretton.
Melton is the first actor cast in the movie. Lionsgate declined to comment.
The timing tells the rest of the story. For months, Melton was the name attached to Beast in Marvel’s X-Men reboot. Then D23 happened, seven actors took the stage, and Melton wasn’t one of them.
Now we know where he actually landed.
Melton Was The Beast Name For Months
Melton’s name had been circulating for Hank McCoy as part of the long list of X-Men casting rumors. Marvel never confirmed it, and neither did the trades. It stayed a rumor the whole way.
Then, days before D23, claims surfaced that Melton was no longer playing Beast, right as scooper Daniel Richtman said Marvel was having “issues” locking down the cast.
The D23 reveal settled it. Marvel announced Sadie Sink’s Jean Grey, Kit Connor’s Cyclops, Christopher Abbott’s Professor X, Samara Weaving’s Emma Frost, Inde Navarrette’s Rogue, Maya Boyd’s Storm, and Adam Driver’s Nathaniel Milbury.
No Beast. No Melton.
Variety points out the Kakashi news arrives amid the speculation that Melton would be announced as part of the X-Men cast at D23.
Kevin Feige said on stage that more casting is still to come, so Beast could still be on the way. Melton just won’t be under the blue fur.
Kakashi Is The First Naruto Casting
Kakashi Hatake is the elite shinobi who leads Team 7 and mentors Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, and he’s one of the most popular characters Masashi Kishimoto ever put on the page.
Melton comes in hot. He just landed an Emmy nomination for Beef Season 2 opposite Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, and Cailee Spaeny, following his breakout in Todd Haynes’ May December, a role in Warfare, and his run as Reggie Mantle on Riverdale.
Per THR, production is eyeing a start around February 2027. The worldwide casting search for the three young leads, Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura, launched in July and is still going.
Avi Arad, Ari Arad, and Emmy Yu produce for Arad Productions with Jeremy Latcham, while Cretton produces through his Hisako banner with Jeyun Munford. Lionsgate has been developing the project for over a decade, and Cretton signed on back in 2024 after stepping away from his Marvel slate.
This deal also cements the timeline we just laid out: Naruto shoots before Spider-Man 5, so Sony and Marvel wait on Cretton either way.
Worth remembering: at Comic-Con, we were told the Naruto production is a mess, on the level of Dragonball Evolution, per our insiders, so hopefully they fix things and get it right.
Signing an Emmy nominee as the first name on the call sheet is the project’s first real show of momentum since.
The Beast Rumor Mill Points At Peter Claffey
With Melton off the board, the Beast conversation moves to Peter Claffey.
The A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms star, who plays Ser Duncan the Tall on the HBO series, was floated for Hank McCoy back in the spring by The InSneider’s Jeff Sneider, and his name is still circulating for the role following D23.
The usual label applies. Marvel hasn’t confirmed anything, and the same Sneider report floated Odessa A’zion for Rogue, a part that went to Inde Navarrette at D23. So this stays in the rumor category.
For now, the only Beast on Marvel’s schedule is Kelsey Grammer, back as the old-guard Hank McCoy in Avengers: Doomsday this December. The reboot’s Beast seat is open.
Feige promised more X-Men casting is coming, and with cameras targeted for next year ahead of the May 5, 2028 release, those names should land sooner than later. Release date, full cast, villain, and every rumor are tracked in our X-Men guide.
