In the audio commentary included with “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” for its release on the home media market (via The Direct), Peyton Reed noted Cassie is 18 years old in the film (making her about two years older than Emma Fuhrmann’s iteration). Calling Kathryn Newton “an actor who I have admired for a long time,” Reed explained that his main concern was finding someone for the role “who could really hang with Paul Rudd and sort of not be left in the dust.” He added:
“She’s gotta be sharp, and quick, and funny. And also, [Newton] is an athlete. She’s a world-class golfer. She has the physicality for the role.”
In his defense, you don’t get the impression Reed is deliberately trying to slight Fuhrmann or suggest she isn’t capable of being these things. He merely seems excited about working with Newton, an actor who had previously displayed her comedy chops in films like “Blockers” and especially Christopher Landon’s great body-swap slasher horror-comedy “Freaky.” Newton’s turns as the moody teen daughters in the TV dramas “Halt and Catch Fire” and “Big Little Lies” had also shown she was up for capturing the more serious side of the teenage experience — that desire to pursue your ambitions while carving out your identity as an adult separate from that of your parents.
Speaking on the audio commentary with Reed, “Quantumania” writer Jeff Loveness suggested this was another factor that went into Newton’s casting for the film:
“And just someone who can seem like Scott Lang’s daughter. You know, what does she pick up from him? What does she go against? She’s got the heart of Scott. She’s also got a bit of that sense of humor, a bit of that messy quality.”
