Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania Adds The Good Place Star William Jackson Harper To The Cast

The cast of "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" has somehow just gotten even more lovable. Variety is now reporting that William Jackson Harper, star of "The Good Place" and "The Resort," will appear in the new Marvel movie. His role in the 2023 "Ant-Man" sequel is apparently being kept under wraps, and Marvel declined to comment on Variety's scoop.

It's pretty tough to improve upon a new cast that already includes Jonathan Majors and Kathryn Newton, not to mention winsome star Paul Rudd, but Harper's presence is yet another pleasant surprise on the cast list that also includes returning stars Michael Douglas, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Evangeline Lilly. While his role is still being kept close to the chest — he hasn't appeared in any footage from the film to date — fans have been mentioning his name during conversations about who would make a great Reed Richards (of Fantastic Four fame) for years. Back in July, Harper told NME that he wouldn't be in "Fantastic Four," and that no one at Marvel had reached out to him at all. That said, he could just be a student of the Andrew Garfield School of Answering Questions About Marvel Properties.

While Marvel's take on the Fantastic Four is still a ways down the line — the movie is set to debut in November 2024, opening up Phase 6 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe — that surely won't stop viewers from speculating about whether all the whispering about Harper as Richards paid off. Even so, the MCU has a reputation for playing around with casting expectations: this year, they cast another much-loved choice for Richards, John Krasinski, as an alternate universe version of the hero before turning him into human spaghetti in "Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness."

Regardless of who he plays, Jackson will be a welcome addition to the "Ant-Man" sequel's cast. The actor has been appearing on screen for over a decade, including in films like "Paterson" and "Midsommar" and series like "The Underground Railroad" and "Love Life," but he's likely best known for the role of Chidi Anagonye in "The Good Place." The hilariously indecisive better half to Kristen Bell's afterlife-hopping protagonist Eleanor, Jackson played Chidi across four seasons with considerable heart, wit, and geeky charm. He even earned an Emmy nomination for the role.

Meanwhile, Newton ("Freaky") will appear as the grown-up version of Scott Lang's daughter Cassie, while Majors will continue the important plotline he began in season 1 of "Loki," playing the villain Kang the Conquerer. The first trailer for the film has revealed that it'll follow Scott and Cassie as they're sucked into the Quantum Realm, which Pfeiffer's Wasp Janet van Dyne calls "a secret universe beneath ours." 

We'll find out more about it — and know once and for all who Harper will play — when "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" hits theaters on February 17, 2023.