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The upcoming Street Fighter reboot may not have a release date anymore, but that hasn’t stopped Legendary and CAPCOM from filling the roster for all the iconic street level warriors for the anticipated redo. In past weeks, names like Jason Momoa, Andrew Koji and WEWE superstar Roman Reign have enlisted for the project and now we have a onetime hardcore rapper turned Hollywood star joining the pact with more casting announcements as well.
According to THR, Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson is taking the fight to the streets as he has been cast as the new Balrog who is a “disgraced boxer who is also the bodyguard of the villain of the IP who is General M. Bison.” Jackson at one time was a prolific rapper in the industry and has since parlayed that into a successful film career along with his entrepreneur ventures.
Jackson joins Koji who has won the coveted role of Ryu as Reign is going to be playing Akuma. Jackson’s casting news comes off the heels of Callina Liang (Presence) being announced as the new Chun-Li. Legendary, of course, had no comment for this news. The latest iteration of Street Fighter will be directed by Kitao Sakurai, who recently made waves with 2021’s Bad Trip.
It is also being reported that controversial comedian and podcaster Andrew Schulz has joined the cast as well as Dan Hibiki who is best described as an “overconfident, arrogant, and utterly feeble character in the franchise.” The role is tailormade for Schultz who has received backlash for his very off kilter brand of humor.
There are also other rumors of casting swirling around with Walton Goggins supposedly being named as the new Bison but there has been nothing concrete with that one. Goggins is one of the best character actors working today and recently has been seen on the hit series Fallout as well as the even bigger streaming series The White Lotus.
The film had secured a March 20, 2026, launch date, before it was pulled from the schedule, and I did say in my previous article that it wasn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it didn’t speak well for the project at the time. What was clear was that Sony and Capcom wanted to go back to the drawing board after a few failed attempts at the property which included the tongue in cheek 1994 version with Jean-Claude Van Damme and the late, great Raul Julia in his final role. The film does hold a special place in the hearts of fans everywhere, but it isn’t a true adaptation of the game source material. We won’t even speak of 2009’s Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun Li, which was a grittier turn for the I.P.
