The super-news just keeps super-coming. We already learned, this week, that Nicholas Hoult is very like going to step into the evil shoes of Lex Luthor in James Gunn’s Superman: Legacy; now we’ve got another super-pal, and one more antagonist. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Skyler Gisondo will play Daily Planet photographer Jimmy Olsen, and Portuguese model Sara Sampaio will play Eve Teschmacher, who is Lex’s assistant (and sometimes more than that).
The pair joins a lively cast: David Corenswet as Clark Kent, Rachel Brosnahan as Lois Lane, Nathan Fillion as Green Lantern, Edi Gathegi as Mister Terrific, Isabela Merced as Hawkgirl, Anthony Carrigan as Metamorpho, María Gabriela de Faría as the Engineer—and the aforementioned Hoult as Lex Luthor (probably).
Gisondo is Gideon Gemstone on The Righteous Gemstones (pictured above); he was also on the little-seen but enjoyable zombie comedy Santa Clarita Diet (and he was in the superhero leagues as a teen, playing Gwen Stacy’s brother Howard in The Amazing Spider-Man). Sampaio is best known for being one of Victoria’s Secret’s Angels.
Jimmy Olsen has been played by many actors over the years, including Aaron Ashmore (Smallville) and Sam Huntington (Superman Returns); I admit to being fairly attached to Supergirl’s Mehcad Brooks, but will keep an open mind for this new version of the friendly photojournalist. Eve Teschmacher is technically not originally a comic book character; Richard Donner and Mario Puzo, created her for 1978’s Superman, where she was played by Valerie Perrine. Eve was also a character on Supergirl, where she started out as an assistant to Cat Grant before going to work for Lena Luthor—and eventually revealing her secret association with Lex.
How they will fit into James Gunn’s brave new super-world remains to be seen. Superman: Legacy is set to premiere July 11, 2025.
