Charles Melton could be our new Kakashi, as the actor is reportedly in talks to portray the iconic masked shinobi in Destin Daniel Cretton’s upcoming Naruto movie.
Sources told The Hollywood Reporter that Melton is in the final stages of negotiations to take the role, meaning his spot in the film is almost fully secured.
Melton makes sense as Kakashi; the actor, best known for his performances in Beef Season 2 and Riverdale, is an avid manga reader and a huge anime fan. In an interview with The New Yorker back in April, Melton admitted that he hadn’t been sleeping because he’d been watching anime “until 4 o’clock in the morning almost every other day.”
He listed his favorites series as Dragon Ball Z, Demon Slayer, and Jujutsu Kaisen. “Dragon Ball Z, that’s just the classic,” he said. “That’s my childhood. Demon Slayer, I mean, Tanjiro, man — he finds strength in the love that he has for his sister and his friends. He’s one of the most honorable characters I’ve seen. Itadori in Jujutsu Kaisen — man, I just love him, okay?”
While Naruto wasn’t in his top three, we have to admit he’d be a good fit for the part especially considering his martial arts skills. Melton is a second-degree black belt in taekwondo and won gold in the International Taekwondo Federation foreign nationals division while he lived in South Korea.
Responses to Melton’s all-but-assured casting as Kakashi have been about as wild and enthusiastic as you’d expect, with many remarking on how he reportedly turned down the chance to play Beast in Marvel’s upcoming X-Men movie, a role that was later revealed to be reprised by Kesley Grammar.
“Now I can see why he dropped the role of MCU Beast for this,” one commenter wrote on X.
“So this is why he turned down the Beast role?” another asked.
“Charles Melton as Kakashi actually makes sense… Y’all seeing the vision or am I crazy?” yet another wrote.
Casting for Naruto himself is still underway. An open casting call was published in summer 2026, reportedly seeking out young male actors between 16 and 20 years old who are “athletic, energetic, expressive” and must speak fluent English.
Mangaka Masashi Kishimoto, the creator of Naruto, spoke on the project on the official Naruto website, who excitedly said he “cannot believe” his manga was being adapted into a major Hollywood film.
“Right now, miracles are happening to me, one after another. My work, Naruto, is truly, truly becoming a Hollywood movie! And an even greater miracle is that the film will be directed by the one and only Destin Daniel Cretton. I still cannot believe it!” he wrote.
This is the next big project for Cretton following Spider-Man: Brand New Day, a project that broke records at the box office to become one of the most profitable Marvel Movies in history.
Image Credits: Chris Delmas / AFP via Getty Images
Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.
