The Writer of The Last Of Us Suggests This Actor Would Be Perfect to Portray Wario in the Next Mario Film

Nintendo and Illumination are producing a sequel to The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and while lots of questions remain unanswered about the story and characters, The Last of Us writer and showrunner Craig Mazin believes Nick Offerman should voice Wario.

Mazin told IGN that Offerman would “do a really good job,” and he would “bring some gravitas” to the role. Offerman played Bill in Season 1 of The Last of Us, starring in one of the season’s most beloved episodes.

Mazin said he loves the character Wario and thinks he is “misunderstood.”

The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 is coming in 2026, and according to Toad voice actor Keegan-Michael Key, the sequel will be “broader in scope” and feature even more Mushroom Kingdom characters than the first.

“One thing I can say about the second movie is that it’s a little broader in scope, and where it takes place is very intriguing lore…,” Key told Men’s Journal. “They’re going to find some really fantastic Easter eggs and it’s been very exciting so far.”

He added: “I feel like what they’ve done creatively is they’ve really widened out the universe that these characters live in and we’re going to meet some new folks.”

But who are these new characters? Key didn’t say, but teased that some of them are “really deep cuts,” suggesting they could be more obscure characters from Mario’s world.

Wario is a pretty popular and well-known character, and given that he didn’t appear in the first movie, he’s a top candidate to appear in the sequel, one would think. Some people believe Wario appeared in The Super Mario Bros. Movie during a flashback scene as the bully who knocked down Luigi’s sand castle.

In addition to the next Mario animated movie, Nintendo and Sony have teamed up to produce a live-action Zelda movie–but it’s still very early days for that project.

The Super Mario Bros. Movie was a huge success when it released in 2023. In addition to being received generally positively by critics, the movie made more than $1.3 billion at the box office, becoming the No. 2 movie worldwide that year, only behind Barbie. Only 17 movies in the history of cinema have made more money than The Super Mario Bros. Movie.

In other news about Nintendo, the next Nintendo Direct is coming up on March 27, followed by a Switch 2-specific Nintendo Direct on April 2.