‘Deadpool 2’ Cast, Updates: Stephen Lang Not Playing the Mutant Cable? Start of Production may Commence at Beginning of 2017

‘Deadpool 2’ may not be casting Stephen Lang in the role of the mutant Cable, best known as one of Deadpool’s toughest enemies. Meanwhile, production is said to begin sometime in early 2017.

During an interview with CinemaBlend, Lang expressed doubt in snagging the role of Cable for the upcoming sequel of the blockbuster hit ‘Deadpool’.

He said, “I think it’s highly unlikely that they would ever give me the part, for a number of reasons, one of which being that it’s the same studio as Avatar. It’s a conceivable it would be a scheduling conflict, but you know, what I’ve said is that if they did give me the part, they’d be very satisfied – because I’ll play the hell out of the part. But if they don’t give me the part, then I can be magnanimous in defeat, compliment the actor who does get the part, and console myself with four sequels to Avatar.”

Lang previously took to social media to actively campaign for the role of the deadly mutant Cable. He posted, "Let's lay some CABLE. You know I want it. This is pre-training. Thanks for spreading the word." It seems that he is highly convinced that 20th Century Fox, the studio behind James Cameron’s ‘Avatar’ and Tim Miller’s ‘Deadpool’, may disallow this due to scheduling conflicts.

The 64-year old admitted, “The extent of my campaigning for the role was the initial Tweet, and then after that, what I do is, when people do fan art, where they make me Cable, I retweet it, because I think it's cool. Because why not? Because quite frankly, it's a win-win situation.”

In the original comic books, Cable is the son of Scott Summers and Jean Grey’s clone Madelyne Pryor. As an adult, he joined the X-Men and became both a lethal enemy to Deadpool as well as his ally.

Cable possesses the powers of telepathy and cyberpathy as well as psychokinesis. He can also teleport through the use of “bodysliding”. He has superhuman endurance, speed, and agility and is enhanced with a cybernetic eye and arm.

Lang portrayed the villainous Col. Miles Quaritch in ‘Avatar’ for which he gained accolades and nominations including a Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor as well as nominations for the Teens Choice Awards, Scream Award, and MTV Movie Award. He also worked on other full-feature films including 2003’s ‘Gods and Generals’, 2009’s ‘Public Enemies’, 2009’s ‘The Men Who Stare at Goats’, 2011’s ‘Conan the Barbarian’, and 2014’s ‘Jarhead 2: Field of Fire’.

He is set to reprise his role as Miles in Cameron’s upcoming sequel ‘Avatar 2’ together with Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana.

According to /Film, production for ‘Deadpool 2’ may commence at the beginning of 2017. Although the sequel is officially in the works under returning director Tim Miller, no official release date has been announced as of the present.

‘Deadpool 2’ is a yet untitled upcoming sequel to the 2016 blockbuster hit of the same name starring Ryan Reynolds in the lead role as Wade Wilson a.k.a. Deadpool. The original film was deemed a massive commercial and critical success, earning $783.77 million worldwide against a production budget of $58 million despite its R-rating.