Charles Melton Reportedly in Final Negotiations to Play Kakashi in Destin Daniel Cretton's Naruto Movie

Charles Melton could beryllium our caller Kakashi, arsenic the histrion is reportedly successful talks to represent the iconic masked shinobi successful Destin Daniel Cretton’s upcoming Naruto movie.

Sources told The Hollywood Reporter that Melton is successful the last stages of negotiations to instrumentality the role, meaning his spot successful the movie is astir afloat secured.

Melton makes consciousness arsenic Kakashi; the actor, champion known for his performances successful Beef Season 2 and Riverdale, is an avid manga scholar and a immense anime fan. In an interrogation with The New Yorker backmost successful April, Melton admitted that helium hadn’t been sleeping due to the fact that he’d been watching anime “until 4 o’clock successful the greeting astir each different day.”

He listed his favorites bid arsenic Dragon Ball Z, Demon Slayer, and Jujutsu Kaisen. “Dragon Ball Z, that’s conscionable the classic,” helium said. “That’s my childhood. Demon Slayer, I mean, Tanjiro, antheral — helium finds spot successful the emotion that helium has for his sister and his friends. He’s 1 of the astir honorable characters I’ve seen. Itadori successful Jujutsu Kaisen — man, I conscionable emotion him, okay?”

While Naruto wasn’t successful his apical three, we person to admit he’d beryllium a bully acceptable for the portion particularly considering his martial arts skills. Melton is simply a second-degree achromatic loop successful taekwondo and won golden successful the International Taekwondo Federation overseas nationals part portion helium lived successful South Korea.

Responses to Melton’s all-but-assured casting arsenic Kakashi person been astir arsenic chaotic and enthusiastic arsenic you’d expect, with galore remarking connected however helium reportedly turned down the accidental to play Beast successful Marvel’s upcoming X-Men movie, a relation that was aboriginal revealed to beryllium reprised by Kesley Grammar.

“Now I tin spot wherefore helium dropped the relation of MCU Beast for this,” 1 commenter wrote connected X.

“So this is wherefore helium turned down the Beast role?” different asked.

“Charles Melton arsenic Kakashi really makes sense… Y’all seeing the imaginativeness oregon americium I crazy?” yet different wrote.

Casting for Naruto himself is inactive underway. An unfastened casting telephone was published successful summertime 2026, reportedly seeking retired young antheral actors betwixt 16 and 20 years aged who are “athletic, energetic, expressive” and indispensable talk fluent English.

Mangaka Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto, spoke connected the task connected the authoritative Naruto website, who excitedly said helium “cannot believe” his manga was being adapted into a large Hollywood film.

“Right now, miracles are happening to me, 1 aft another. My work, Naruto, is truly, genuinely becoming a Hollywood movie! And an adjacent greater occurrence is that the movie volition beryllium directed by the 1 and lone Destin Daniel Cretton. I inactive cannot judge it!” helium wrote.

This is the adjacent large task for Cretton pursuing Spider-Man: Brand New Day, a task that broke records astatine the container bureau to go 1 of the astir profitable Marvel Movies successful history.

Image Credits: Chris Delmas / AFP via Getty Images

Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With 10 years of acquisition reporting connected games and entertainment, she’s got a storied inheritance successful the warring crippled community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her connected Twitter astatine @TheeMissGlaze.