Charles Melton is in final negotiations to play Kakashi Hatake in Lionsgate’s live-action Naruto film, The Hollywood Reporter reported on August 20, 2026. Destin Daniel Cretton directs. Melton would be the first actor attached to a named role — Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura are all still uncast.
The Hollywood Reporter’s Borys Kit and Mia Galuppo broke the story on Thursday, August 20, 2026. Every other report published since traces back to that single piece, including Anime News Network’s write-up. There has been no announcement from Lionsgate.
What the trade actually reported
Melton is in final negotiations for Kakashi — the masked jonin who leads Team 7 and functions as the closest thing the early manga has to a mentor. He is not a supporting player. Kakashi is a protagonist in his own right and carries a large share of the story’s emotional weight.
Cretton is directing, and producing through his company Hisako alongside Jeyun Munford. Arad Productions’ Avi Arad, Ari Arad and Emmy Yu are producing, as is Jeremy Latcham. Cretton comes to it from Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day.
On Melton: Anime News Network notes he took two Emmy nominations for the second season of Beef — Outstanding Limited or Anthology Series as a producer, and Outstanding Supporting Actor. He is also known to a large audience from Riverdale.
“Final negotiations” is not “cast” — and the difference vanished within hours
This is the part worth slowing down on, because it is the single most common way entertainment news misleads people who are just trying to follow a franchise.
In final negotiations means there is no signed deal. It is a real and meaningful stage — the studio has chosen its actor and the lawyers are working — but deals at this point do occasionally collapse over money, scheduling or a competing offer. It is reporting on an intention, not an outcome.
Here is how one sourced sentence travelled across a single afternoon. Every headline below was published on August 20 and every one of them rests on the same THR story:
| Outlet | How the headline framed it |
|---|---|
| The Hollywood Reporter (the source) | “in Talks to Play Kakashi” — the body says “in final negotiations” |
| Anime News Network | “in Talks to Cast Charles Melton as Kakashi” |
| Screen Rant | “Reportedly Finds Its Live-Action Kakashi” |
| SlashFilm | “Casts Charles Melton As Kakashi” |
| Gizmodo | “Casts Charles Melton as Kakashi” |
| CBR | “Casts Major Character” |
| MovieWeb | “Officially Casts” |
Note that even THR’s own headline is looser than its body copy. By the end of the chain, an unsigned deal has become an official casting. Nothing new was learned between the first headline and the last — only the verb changed.
Casting the mentor before the kids is the real signal
The genuinely interesting thing here is not who got the part. It is the order.
The official Naruto franchise site announced on July 10, 2026 that the film had opened a global casting search for Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura, with other characters to follow. That search is still running. So the first named role attached to this movie is the adult mentor, and the three children the story is actually about remain uncast.
That is a recognisable playbook, and a sensible one: anchor an adaptation about children with a known adult performer, then cast unknowns as the kids. It is roughly how Harry Potter was built, and it lets a studio open a global search without the pressure of also having to land a star.
It does carry one real consequence, though, and it is worth naming. Kakashi is being cast before anyone knows who he will be playing opposite. The Kakashi–Naruto relationship is the spine of the first act, and chemistry reads for the leads will now happen around an actor who is already locked in rather than alongside him.
This film has been in development for eleven years
Hold today’s news loosely, because a live-action Naruto has been announced, re-announced and rewritten since the middle of the last decade.
| When | What happened |
|---|---|
| July 2015 | The Tracking Board reported Lionsgate had closed the rights and was in talks with Michael Gracey to direct |
| 2016 | A Jump Festa stage presentation confirmed Lionsgate and Gracey, with creator Masashi Kishimoto involved |
| August 2017 | The Hollywood Reporter reported Jon and Erich Hoeber were rewriting the script |
| March 2018 | Collider reported Gracey saying the script was still in progress, pending Kishimoto’s approval |
| November 2023 | Variety reported Tasha Huo (Red Sonja) was writing |
| 2026 | Destin Daniel Cretton directing; Charles Melton in final negotiations for Kakashi |
Anime News Network is explicit that it is unclear whether anyone from the earlier era besides Huo is still attached. Gracey’s version, in other words, is effectively gone. What survives is the rights deal and the Arads.
For scale: Kishimoto launched the manga in Shueisha’s Weekly Shonen Jump in 1999 and finished it in November 2014 — fifteen years of serialisation. Hollywood has now been trying to adapt it for eleven.
Where the project stands today
| Detail | Status |
|---|---|
| Role | Kakashi Hatake |
| Actor | Charles Melton |
| Deal status | In final negotiations — not signed |
| Director | Destin Daniel Cretton |
| Writer | Tasha Huo (reported November 2023) |
| Studio | Lionsgate |
| Producers | Cretton and Jeyun Munford (Hisako); Avi Arad, Ari Arad, Emmy Yu (Arad Productions); Jeremy Latcham |
| Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura | Uncast — global search opened July 10, 2026 |
| Release date | None announced |
| Production start | Not announced |
What we are not going to tell you
We do not know when this films, and we are not going to repeat a start date that no studio has confirmed. We do not know who is playing Naruto. We do not know Kishimoto’s current level of involvement — that was confirmed in 2016 for a version of the film that no longer exists, and nobody has restated it since.
If you want to argue about whether Melton fits, our ranking of the strongest Naruto characters makes the case for where Kakashi actually sits in the power structure, and our strongest Naruto villains list covers what he spends the series up against. Today’s other big anime story is over here: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners 2 got its Netflix date.
The official franchise site is naruto-official.com, which is where the July casting call was posted.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Charles Melton officially cast as Kakashi?
Not yet. The Hollywood Reporter reported on August 20, 2026 that he is in final negotiations, which means a deal has not been signed. Lionsgate has made no announcement.
Who is directing the live-action Naruto movie?
Destin Daniel Cretton, who directed Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Marvel’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day. He is also producing through his company Hisako.
Have Naruto, Sasuke and Sakura been cast?
No. The official Naruto franchise site announced a global casting search for all three roles on July 10, 2026, and none has been filled. Kakashi is the first named role to have an actor attached.
When does the live-action Naruto movie come out?
No release date has been announced, and no production start date has been confirmed by Lionsgate.
Is Masashi Kishimoto involved in the film?
Kishimoto’s involvement was confirmed at Jump Festa in 2016, but that was for an earlier version of the project with a different director. His current level of involvement has not been restated.
