Tom Hardy's Vision For Venom Impressed Even Andy Serkis

Director Andy Serkis explains the process behind Venom’s live-action adaptation and praises Tom Hardy’s influence on Sony’s Venom movies. While Sony’s Venom movies got decreasing numbers at the worldwide box office, the Venom trilogy is certainly the most successful Marvel property in Sony’s Spider-Man Universe. Venom’s popularity in the comic books played a key role in the films’ success, but their action, visual effects, and Tom Hardy’s performance also captured audiences.

At Fan Expo Philadelphia 2025, Venom: Let There Be Carnage director Andy Serkis explained that Tom Hardy first recorded Venom’s lines before deciding where in the scene the symbiote would be. Then, Serkis would arrange the framing with Hardy and film each scene with Venom’s position in mind. Read Andy Serkis’ full comments below:

Andy Serkis: “Tom [Hardy] is so brilliantly inventive, and his process for creating Venom was to record Venom’s dialogue and then be able to place him in the room wherever he wanted because obviously symbiotically he can appear anywhere and move around. So by placing his eye line, my job was to kind of work through with him exactly where I could guide him as to where for shots, and where I needed Venom to be theoretically. But he had so much freedom to have that other part of himself.”

Tom Hardy Actually Played Two Roles In Sony’s Venom Trilogy

Venom is inherently tied to Eddie Brock. Any Venom adaptation that bonds the symbiote to Eddie would require an actor who pulls off double duty as both characters, or at least two actors who stay on the same page in every scene. Eddie Brock pulls off the former option, not only delivering a convincing performance against a full-CGI character but also making creative decisions about the symbiote’s performance, position, and voice. Tom Hardy voiced the symbiote in the first Venom movie with the help of voice actor Brad Venable, and he reprised his voice role by himself in both sequels.

Doctor Strange comes out of the portal in Avengers: Infinity War, Venom on a plane in The Last Dance, and Knull on Klyntar

Avengers 6 Brings Back Venom & Knull Without Tom Hardy According To MCU Theory

Venom’s future is unclear after Venom: The Last Dance, but he could return in Avengers: Secret Wars along with his villainous creator, Knull.

Although Venom himself is a CGI character Tom Hardy didn’t perform the motion capture for, Hardy’s creative and technical decisions for the symbiote served as a sort of external performance for the character. Tom Hardy’s input elevates the interactions between Venom and Eddie Brock over anything a non-involved actor could have done. On top of that, Andy Serkis’ mastery of VFX-aided performance allowed the director to understand exactly how to shoot Venom: Let There Be Carnage and give the actor all the creative freedom he needed.

The Venom Trilogy Didn’t Take Full Advantage Of Tom Hardy’s Venom Potential

Although Sony’s Venom movies completed a trilogy that became a moderate hit at the box office, they didn’t reach the Eddie Brock and his symbiote’s full potential. After Andy Serkis’ description of Tom Hardy’s workflow, the fact that Hardy’s Venom never met Tom Holland’s Spider-Man is even more disappointing. After Venom: The Last Dance wrapped up the Venom trilogy, Sony’s Spider-Man Universe appeared to end with Kraven the Hunter, and the MCU’s Spider-Man is moving on in Spider-Man: Brand New Day, it seems like Tom Hardy has left his Venom days behind.