Cast Of The Gray Man- Ryan Gosling And Chris Evans Lead This Netflix Hit

The Gray Man is an action thriller spy film whose cast includes Ryan Gosling, Chris Evans, and Ana de Armas and was directed by the Russo Brothers, Anthony and Joe. The film, based on the series of Gray Man novels by scribe Mark Greaney, is intended to set up a franchise along the lines of Jason Bourne, John Wick, and the Mission: Impossible films. To show just how serious they were about making The Gray Man a franchise, Netflix ponied up over $200 million for the film’s production.

The cast of The Gray Man tells the story of Court Gentry who, as a minor, was sent to prison for killing his abusive father in order to protect his younger brother. Eight years later he is offered his freedom in exchange for working for Sierra, the CIA’s undercover operation, as an assassin. Gentry accepts as a way of gaining his freedom but as the years pass, he turns into one of the CIA’s most lethal assassins.

Sierra Six’s story begins when he is assigned to a mission with Dani Miranda (de Armas), a fellow CIA agent, to take out a target who has been selling off national security secrets. When they finally catch up to this person, it turns out he is Sierra Four, a former CIA op. Before he dies, he hands Six an encrypted drive that holds all of the CIA’s dirty little secrets that aren’t so little.

What follows is a mixture of action, adventure, some comedic relief, and enough twists to keep viewers entertained. The cast of The Gray Man is game and in fine form, even if the movie is familiar, like something we’ve already seen time and again. So, let’s take a look at who is who in The Gray Man cast (POSSIBLE MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD).

CAST OF THE GRAY MAN – THE GOOD

Sierra Six/Court Gentry – Ryan Gosling

Ryan Gosling leads The Gray Man cast as Sierra Six/Court Gentry. He goes from prisoner to assassin quickly and shows early on that although he is a ruthless CIA assassin, he does have a moral compass – he refuses to do a job that would cost a child their life. This assassin faux pas is what sets the rest of the story in motion as Six cleans up his own mess by taking out his initial target but not before said target hands him information about CIA corruption.

Gosling worked well in the past as an action thriller star (Blade Runner 2049, Gangster Squad, The Nice Guys) and shows zero let-up as the lead in The Gray Man cast. His mission is clear from the outset and there isn’t anything that will slow him down from obtaining his objective, though there are numerous roadblocks in his way.

Three interesting projects are lined up for Gosling, who continues his eclectic career and will next be seen in Greta Gerwig’s Barbie film led by Margot Robbie as the title character while Gosling is her Ken. After that, Gosling returns to the action genre by starring in The Fall Guy, a reboot of the 1980s TV series that starred Lee Majors. Finally, Gosling will jump into the horror genre as he will play the title character in Wolfman.

Dani Miranda – Ana de Armas

Ana de Armas adds some sex appeal to the badassery that is The Gray Man cast. As Dani Miranda, the CIA op, Miranda shows early on that she can go toe-to-toe with the best the bad guys have to offer. She assists Six with his first assignment and then spends the rest of the film trying to figure out if Six is one of the good guys or one of the bad guys.

De Armas recently made some big headlines with her last film, Blonde, the Marilyn Monroe biopic that received an NC-17 rating for its graphic sexual content. Before that, de Armas worked with Gosling in Blade runner 2049 and was also seen in the hit murder mystery, Knives Out, where she starred with Daniel Craig. She reunited with Craig in his final outing as James Bond in the controversial No Time to Die.

Fitzroy – Billy Bob Thornton

Billy Bob Thornton is part of The Gray Man cast as Fitzroy, the leader of the Sierra program, and the one who recruits Court Gentry into the clandestine group. He is a father figure to Gentry and is put in the unenviable position of ordering Gentry’s death. Of course, Fitzroy wouldn’t do it if he himself wasn’t given a reason to make the order.

Margaret Cahill – Alfre Woodard

Alfre Woodard is not on screen long, but her appearance is an important one. She plays Margaret Cahill, a terminally ill ex-operative who has skills. She fills in Six on the CIA corruption, then stands strong against the team of assassins sent to take out Six and Miranda.

Claire – Julia Butters

Julia Butters is Claire, the young niece of Thorton’s Fitzroy. She plays an important role, as Claire is the pawn that forces Fitzroy’s hand when she is kidnapped by Evans’ Lloyd Hansen.

THE GRAY MAN CAST – THE BAD

Lloyd Hansen – Chris Evans

Chris Evans makes being a sociopath look like so much fun. Here in The Gray Man, Evans is cast as Lloyd Hansen, a completely over-the-top psycho, oozing with badness and made complete by a cheesy mustache that is so bad, one doesn’t know if they should take him seriously or not. He kills children, he lacks morals, he spews “mean” dialogue, and he can fight like a banshee, but then there is that mustache.

As part of the cast of The Gray Man, Evans’s Hansen is a mercenary, brought in to remove Sierra Six. Hansen is supposed to be a brilliant tactician, known for his ruthlessness but also known as someone who will get the job done regardless. Somehow, though, all his machinations mean nada as he continuously fails to complete his mission of taking out Six.

When the two finally meet in the film’s climactic fight sequence, what starts off interesting, ends up with viewers wanting much more. It is kind of like the entire film. There is too much there to have it end up being so little.

Although many know Chris Evans as Captain America from the Marvel films, his resume is more than just Steve Rogers. Evans’ first big break came in the highly underrated feature film parody comedy, Not Another Teen Movie. His second film, 2004’s The Perfect Score, would be the first time Evans would star in a movie with Scarlett Johansson, as the two would eventually hook up again in the MCU.

Carmichael – Regé-Jean Page

Rotten from the start, viewers will know early on what side of the ledger Regé-Jean Page’s Carmichael sits. Page does bad good and is relentless in his desire to rid the world of Six. He orders from afar, keeping himself out of harm’s way while trying to inflict as much damage as possible.

Lone Wolf – Dhanush

One of the many assassins and mercenaries that are hot on the trail of Six. He goes from really bad to somewhat good once he realizes what Carmichael is all about. His fight with Miranda is one of the highlights of the film.

Suzanne Brewer – Jessica Henwick

It is hard to call Jessica Henwick’s Suzanne Brewer bad when she spends much of the film trying to outmaneuver Carmichael. But we will call her bad because even though she is at odds with him, she still falls in line with the CIA corruption.

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The cast of The Gray Man works well together. While the films may be filled with the usual action thriller tropes and clichés, it is an effective film. Netflix continues to bet big on a possible franchise, as it was announced a mere two weeks after the film premiered on the super streamer that they were already backing a sequel.

Along with the sequel announcement, Netflix also said Ryan Gosling will be back as Six. The Russo brothers will return to direct the film from a screenplay to be written by Stephen McFeely, who also co-wrote The Gray Man along with co-writing Avengers: Endgame. Maybe Netflix has the franchise they were looking for.