A possible new face opposite the creature
Chase Sui Wonders is in talks to join Goblin, the R-rated puppet comedy being made at A24. The Hollywood Reporter describes the negotiations, so her participation should not yet be treated as a completed casting deal. David Mikalson is writing and directing; Kenneth Branagh is attached to voice the title creature, with Will Forte and Skyler Gisondo also in the ensemble. The broad setup is an adult comedy combining live performers with a physical puppet. No detailed plot or role for Wonders is in the report. Even with that limit, the potential addition has a clear dramatic use. A creature comedy needs people who can make an artificial companion feel present in ordinary social scenes. Their reactions tell viewers how strange, charming or disruptive the puppet is meant to be. Wonders would be another performer through whom the film can define that relationship, provided the talks become a deal. A deal, if reached, would therefore add a potential relationship to the film, not simply another celebrity name.
The human side of a puppet film
Goblin began with an unusually tangible pitch. In Deadline's firsthand account of the A24 deal, David Mikalson had already spent his own money creating the title puppet and was directing a very small version of the film in Kentucky. His script circulated widely; the writer-director took more than a hundred meetings before A24 agreed to finance a larger feature. The proposed film was described as a raunchy buddy comedy, with a practical creature at its centre. That history makes the puppet a starting point for the project, not a decorative effect added after the studio deal. Branagh's planned voice performance now has to meet a physical creation Mikalson had invested in before the better-funded version existed. The casting news also sits in a clear production story: A24 backed a filmmaker's existing approach, and each new performer has to join a comedy built around an object the director has already made.
Why an adult rating is not a comic identity
Wonders brings a useful, documented relationship to comedy. In a firsthand Awards Radar interview about The Studio, she described working in extended takes where cast members had to create timing together instead of relying on cuts to rescue a joke. She also spoke about trying to cry and be funny in the same scene. Her film work includes the horror comedy Bodies Bodies Bodies, so the possible Goblin casting would not be her first encounter with humour under threat. None of that tells us the role she is negotiating. It does make the pairing interesting for a concrete reason: Mikalson's puppet depends on a shared performance in a physical space, while Wonders has talked about the demands of keeping a comic exchange alive with other actors in real time. That is a stronger connection than merely calling her another rising name. It links a performer’s described working method to the practical choice already shaping this production.
A premise that will live or die in scenes
The two older reports and today's negotiations also show how the ensemble is forming around the creature. Mikalson started with the puppet and a script; Branagh was attached to give it a voice, while Forte and Gisondo joined the live-action cast. Wonders would add another human presence if the talks succeed. The combination brings together a voice associated with theatrical character work, performers known for comedy, and a filmmaker who built his own effects-led pitch before A24 arrived. It leaves an open creative question that is particular to Goblin: whether the human cast can make Mikalson's handmade title figure feel like a partner in the buddy story that sold the script. Deadline's account of the deal explains why that question matters. A24 did not just buy a premise about a goblin; it backed a creator who had already committed money and time to a working version of the character. The new casting talks are one more step in turning that prototype-led idea into a full ensemble film.