Charles Melton is in final negotiations to play Kakashi in Destin Daniel Cretton’s live-action Naruto movie, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Naruto live-action movie cast is otherwise still taking shape, with the title role yet to be filled.
Naruto live-action movie cast: what we know so far
The live-action Naruto movie has been in development at Lionsgate for years, with Cretton attached to direct. Kakashi, the silver-haired, masked jonin who mentors Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura as Team 7, would be the first major character to land a confirmed actor. Melton, an Emmy nominee for the Netflix series Beef and a Riverdale alum, is reportedly in the final stages of negotiations, per sources speaking to THR.
He is also a plausible fit beyond the casting spreadsheet. Melton told The New Yorker in April that he had been staying up “until 4 o’clock in the morning almost every other day” watching anime, citing Dragon Ball Z, Demon Slayer and Jujutsu Kaisen among his favourites. He is also a second-degree black belt in taekwondo who won gold in the International Taekwondo Federation’s foreign nationals division while living in South Korea. The mask should be the easy part.
The casting news has also connected a few dots for fans. Melton was previously reported to have turned down the role of Beast in Marvel’s X-Men movie, a part that later went to Kelsey Grammer, and the timing has not gone unnoticed online. His X-Men casting history aside, the Naruto movie’s other big question remains Naruto himself: an open casting call issued in summer 2026 sought young male actors aged 16 to 20 who are “athletic, energetic, expressive” and speak fluent English.
Manga creator Masashi Kishimoto has been vocal about the project, writing on the official Naruto website:
“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!”
Cretton arrives fresh off Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which broke box office records for Marvel. No release date has been announced for the Naruto movie, and nothing is confirmed until the ink dries on Melton’s deal.
Who is Kakashi in Naruto?
Kakashi Hatake is the masked jonin who leads Team 7, the squad made up of Naruto Uzumaki, Sasuke Uchiha and Sakura Haruno. Known as the Copy Ninja, he has copied over a thousand jutsu with his Sharingan eye.
What is the Naruto live-action movie about?
It adapts Masashi Kishimoto’s manga, serialised in Weekly Shonen Jump from 1999 to 2014. The story follows Naruto Uzumaki, an orphaned ninja who dreams of becoming Hokage while carrying the spirit of a nine-tailed fox sealed inside him.
When is the Naruto movie out?
No release date has been announced. The film is in pre-production, with casting for Naruto himself still under way and Kakashi reportedly locked in.
