‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ Cast, Updates: Michael Peña Reprises Role as Scott Lang’s Friend Luis; Filming Begins Early 2017

‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ is set to feature the return of Michael Peña as Scott Lang’s friend and ally Luis. Filming is scheduled to begin early in 2017.

According to Den of Geek, Peña is officially reprising his role as Scott Lang’s former cellmate and friend Luis. The 40-year old American actor was first introduced as Luis in director Peyton Reed’s 2015 live-action adaptation of the Marvel comic book character of the same name. Fans immediately praised Peña’s performance as he managed to steal scene after scene with his character’s wisecracks and comedic relief.

So far, Peña is the latest original cast member officially confirmed to return for Reed’s upcoming sequel. He joins Paul Rudd as Scott Lang a.k.a. Ant-Man and Evangeline Lilly as Hope van Dyne a.k.a. The Wasp. Currently, the follow-up is scheduled to begin production early in 2017.

According to SuperHeroHype, Rudd revealed that their writing team had already turned in the screenplay. Rudd worked closely with Reed and Oscar-winner Adam McKay to create a screenplay prepared by Andrew Barrer and Gabriel Ferrari of ‘Transformers’ fame.

Reed previously revealed, “I think the only thing I can tell you with certainty at this point, because we’re still about two years away from the movie coming out, is that it’s going to have stuff in it that you’ve never ever seen in a movie before.” 

The director also previously confirmed that Lilly’s Hope will play an lead role in the second installment. He said, “I always thought of Ant-Man and Wasp as a team and that’s a lot of what the second movie is really about is how they work together, what their personal and professional relationships are like. To show her finally fully formed in this movie is really exciting.”

He continued, “We really get to introduce this character into that universe. I mean we’ve introduced the character, but we haven’t seen her with her full power set and everything, so to me she’s not a supporting character in this movie. It’s every bit as much her movie as it is Scott Lang’s.”

‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ is an upcoming action-adventure and fantasy film scheduled to premiere in U.S. theaters on July 6, 2018. It is produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

Its predecessor received positive reviews from critics and was deemed a commercial success. It grossed $519.44 million worldwide on a production budget of $130 million.