The 38-year-old half-Puerto Rican actress and comedian, who is currently starring on Season 2 of HBO’s The White Lotus, has been cast opposite Kathryn Hahn and Joe Locke in Agatha: Coven of Chaos, Marvel’s upcoming WandaVisionspinoff series for Disney+.
Details about Plaza’s role are being kept under wraps, but she’s believed to be playing a villain opposite Hahn and Locke, according to Deadline.
Hahn is reprising her role as WandaVision bad gal Agatha in the series. Emma Caulfield Ford is also set to reprise the role of Dottie from WandaVision.
Hahn’s Agatha Harkness appeared in Disney+’s WandaVision, from series creator Jac Schaeffer.
WandaVision centered on Wanda (Elizabeth Olsen) and Vision (Paul Bettany), two superpowered beings living their ideal suburban lives in the town of Westview, NJ, who begin to suspect that everything is not as it seems. Agatha, who won viewers over with her “Agatha All Along” number, is a witch from Salem and fan-favorite breakout character.
Schaeffer, who is under a joint overall deal with Marvel and 20th Television, serves as writer and executive producer on the spinoff.
Agatha: Coven of Chaos is expected to drop on Disney+ next year.
The Nicaraguan-American actress/dancer has joined the cast of Marvel Studios’ Ironheartas a series regular, according to Deadline.com.
The six-episode series created by Chinaka Hodge will star Dominique Thorne as Marvel character Riri Williams, a genius inventor and creator of the most advanced suit of armor since Iron Man.
The previously announced members of the cast include Anthony Ramos, Manny Montana, Alden Ehrenreich, Regan Aliyah, Shea Couleé and Zoe Terakes.
Sam Bailey and Angela Barnes are directing, with Ryan Coogler’s Proximity among the production entities.
Coogler, Ironheart head writer Chinaka Hodge, Zinzi Coogler, and Sev Ohanian serve as executive producers alongside Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum and Zoie Nagelhout.
Barrera can currently be seen as a series regular in the Freevee series Sprungopposite Garrett Dillahunt and Martha Plimpton. She also recently wrapped a recurring arc in OWN’s legal drama All Rise as part of the show’s third season.
She’s notably known for her portrayal of lady wrestler Yolanda in GLOW and Lulu in It’s Bruno, both for Netflix.
Her other TV credits include TNT’s Animal Kingdom, Showtime’s Shameless, and USA Network’sQueen of the South.
On the film side, she appeared in Daniela Garcia’s short film Huella, The Collectionopposite Alex Pettyfer, and The Knocking opposite Shiloh Fernandez.
Outside of acting, Barrera serves as a goodwill ambassador for organizations that specialize in humanitarian aid in Nicaragua.
The 38-year-old part-Panamanian and part-Mexican American actress will star opposite Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the sci-fi thriller Ash, which the Grammy-winning musician and filmmaker Flying Lotus — otherwise known as Steven Ellison — will direct as his sophomore feature.
Neill Blomkamp will executive produce the film, which its financier XYZ Films will rep for worldwide sales at the upcoming Toronto Film Festival.
The new film, for which the multi-hyphenate will also compose an original score, watches as a woman (Thompson) wakes up on a distant planet and finds the crew of her space station viciously killed, and must then decide if she can trust the man (Gordon-Levitt) sent to rescue her. But as their investigation into what happened sets in motion a terrifying chain of events, he begins to wonder how innocent she really is.
Jonni Remmler wrote the original screenplay for the film, looking to go into production in New Zealand next year.
It is Flying Lotus’ follow-up to the Sundance-premiering body horror anthology, Kuso. XYZ Films and GFC Films will produce, with Blomkamp exec producing alongside Echo Lake Entertainment.
“It’s an absolute dream come true to collaborate with some of the most talented actors out there!,” said Flying Lotus.
Thompson is an Emmy– and BAFTA Award-nominated actress and producer who reprised her Marvel role as Valkyrie for the recent Thor: Lover and Thunder, also recently returning for the fourth season of HBO’s Westworld.
Other notable big-screen credits from recent years include Rebecca Hall’s directorial debut Passing, and Prime Video’s Sylvie’s Love, which she also executive produced, as well as Selma, Dear White People and the Creed films.
Among Thompson’s upcoming projects is Creed III, which is currently in post-production, with its release set for next March. Her production company Viva Maude is actively in development on projects including Secret Lives of Church Ladies, Lusterand Who Fears Death.
Rafael Casal is joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe…
The 36-year-old part-Spanish and Cuban American actor will appear in a major role in the upcoming second season of Disney+’s Marvel series Loki.
A representative for Marvel declined to comment on the casting, but word of Casal’s addition started trickling out when a photo from the set of Season 2 leaked online.
It features Casal walking alongside Tom Hiddleston and Owen Wilson, who are back, reprising their roles as anti-hero Loki and Mobius, respectively.
Details about Casal’s character are being kept under wraps; online speculation includes a hypothesis that he could be playing Zaniac.
Following strong reviews and record viewing numbers for the original installment, Loki became the first Marvel series for Disney+ to get a second season.
Loki is set in a Marvel Cinematic Universe-adjacent world, in which the God of Mischief is a fish-out-of-water when he lands in trouble with the bureaucratic TVA (Time Variance Authority) after absconding with the Tesseract.
Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead are co-directing a majority of the episodes in the new season. Hiddleston and Michael Waldron, who wrote and served as showrunner in Season 1, executive produce. Eric Martin is penning all six episodes.
Casal, along with Daveed Diggs, co-wrote, produced and starred in the 2018 movieBlindspotting.
The two co-created and executive produce Starz’s Blindspotting series spinoff, which debuted earlier this year, with Casal as showrunner and reprising his role from the movie.
The series, which has been renewed for a second season, earned an Indie SpiritAward and Gotham Award nominations for Best New/Breakthrough series.
Casal’s acting credits also includeGood Lord Bird, Bad Educationand Are You Afraid of the Dark?
The 36-year-old Puerto Rican actor and Arrow alum will star in the next installment of Paramount and Spyglass Media’s Scream.
Segarra is among a list of new cast additions that includes Jack Champion, Liana Liberato and Devyn Nekoda.
Melissa Barrera, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Mason Gooding and Jenna Ortega will reprise their roles after making their first appearance in the most recent sequel, with Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett returning to direct.
Hayden Panettiere is returning to reprise her role from a previous installment and Dermot Mulroney is also on board.
The new outing is due to shoot this summer and follows the bloody success of the fifth installment, released in January, which grossed more than $81 million domestically and $140 million worldwide.
Plot details are being kept under wraps outside of it following the four survivors of the Ghostface killings as they leave Woodsboro behind and start a fresh chapter.
The film will be released on March 31, 2023.
James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick are penning the script. Vanderbilt will also produce along with his Project X Entertainment partners Paul Neinstein and William Sherak.
Original Scream scribe Kevin Williamson and the third member of Radio Silence, Chad Villella, are executive producing alongside Spyglass’ Gary Barber and Peter Oillataguerre, Ron Lynch, Cathy Konrad and Marianne Maddalena.
Segarra is best known for his role on Arrow and can be seen next in Marvel’s She-Hulk: Attorney At Law.
Manny Montana is putting his (iron)heart into his work…
The 38-year-old Mexican American actor, who rose to acclaim on NBC’s Good Girls, will star as a series regular opposite Dominique Thorne in Marvel Studios’ Disney+ seriesIronheart.
Details about his character are being kept under wraps.
Ironheart, which is now filming, stars Thorne as Riri Williams, a genius inventor and creator of the most advanced suit of armor since Iron Man.
In addition to Williams, Montana joins Anthony Ramos, with Lyric Ross believed to have a role in the series.
Sam Bailey and Angela Barnes are directing, with Ryan Coogler’s Proximity among the production entities. Coogler, Ironheart head writer Chinaka Hodge, Zinzi Coogler and Sev Ohanian serve as executive producers alongside Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige, Louis D’Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, and Zoie Nagelhout.
Montana starred on NBC’s Good Girls for four seasons as one of the core series regulars. He’s recurring on the current season of FX’s Mayans M.C.and also recurs on the upcoming season of HBO’s Westworld.
The 42-year-old Puerto Rican actor has been cast in the lead role of ABC’s drama pilot Will Trent, which now has been officially cleared for production.
Rodriguez will also be a producer on the project, which hails from 20th Television.
Rodríguez was approached just a couple of weeks after the series had received a cast-contingent pilot order in early February. Trent’s casting, which comes after lengthy negotiations, removes that contingency.
Rodríguez most recently starred opposite Aubrey Plaza and served as producer on the Hulu pilot Olga Dies Dreaming, which isn’t moving forward.
In Will Trent, written by Liz Heldens and Dan Thomsen based on Karin Slaughter’s bestselling book series, Special Agent Will Trent (Rodríguez) of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations was abandoned at birth and endured a harsh coming-of-age in Atlanta’s overwhelmed foster care system. But now, determined to use his unique point of view to make sure no one is abandoned like he was, Trent has the highest clearance rate in the GBI.
Rodríguez’s Will Trent is a gifted GBI agent and a loner within the law-enforcement community who hides the severe dyslexia that went untreated during his traumatic childhood in foster care. But with the Bureau’s best clearance rate, he couldn’t care less if people don’t like him.
Heldens and Thomsen executive produce along with Slaughter and 3 Arts’ Oly Obst.
Rodríguez’s television series credits include Showtime’s The Affairand Netflix/Marvel’sIron Fistand The Defenders. In features, he next will be seen starring in the horror film Lullabyfrom Annabelledirector John R. Leonetti. He recently starred in Disney’s The One and Only Ivanalongside Bryan Cranston.
The 41-year-old part-Spanish American actress has been cast as one of the leads in NBC’s Blank Slate, a drama pilot from Dean Georgaris, John Fox, Davis Entertainment and Universal Television.
The series is created by Georgaris and Fox, written by Georgaris and will be directed by Richard Shepard.
Blank Slate draws some parallels to Davis Entertainment’s long-running NBC series The Blacklist.
In Blank Slate, Special Agent Alexander McCoy is a legend in law enforcement, the agent we all hope is out there, the agent we’d all like to be. The only issue is — he doesn’t actually exist. He’s a ghost, a phantom. So what happens when a man claiming to be Alexander McCoy walks through the door with all of his skills and knowledge but with an agenda nobody will see coming?
Lima plays Maya Logan, the seasoned head of a team of Homeland Security agents who’s always a step ahead of everyone else.
Georgaris executive produces via his Georgaris Inc. banner; John Davis and John Fox executive produce for Davis Entertainment. Shepard also executive produces. Universal Television, a division of Universal Studio Group, is the studio.
Lima recently starred in the third season of ABC’s drama A Million Little Things.
She previously was seen in the second season of Netflix and Marvel’s The Punisher, opposite Jon Bernthal.
She joined the CW’s Supergirl in the second season, starring as special crimes investigator Maggie Sawyer, one of the first openly gay characters in mainstream comics.
Ariana DeBose has closed out awards season with a bang…
During Sunday night’s Academy Awards show, the 31-year-old half-Puerto Rican actress/singer/dancer has won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for her portray of Anita in Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story.
DeBose is the second actress to win the Oscar for portraying the iconic Broadway character, following Rita Moreno‘s win in 1962.
DeBose, a North Carolina native, has also made history as the first queer woman of color to win an acting Oscar.
“Imagine this little girl in the backseat of a white Ford focus, look into her eyes and you see an openly queer woman of color, an Afro-Latina who found her strength in life through art,” DeBose said during her acceptance speech.
“So to anybody who has ever questioned your identity— ever, ever ever—or you find yourself living in the gray spaces, I promise you this: There is indeed a place for us.”
DeBose’s other accolades during this awards season include a BAFTA, Golden Globe, Critics Choice, and SAG Award.
DeBose is currently filming Marvel’s Kraven The Hunter in the role of Calypso, which she says has been challenging in a way she hasn’t experienced before.
Yvett Merino and her fellow Encanto producers took home the Oscar forAnimated Feature Film for the acclaimed animated film about a Colombian family touched by magic.
Alberto Mielgo and Leo Sanchez claimed the Animated Short Film Oscar for their project The Windshield Wiper. The film was written, directed and designed by Mielgo.
Here are this year’s Oscar winners:
Best Picture CODA
Philippe Rousselet, Fabrice Gianfermi and Patrick Wachsberger, Producers
Actress in a Leading Role Jessica Chastain
The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Actor in a Leading Role Will Smith
King Richard
Directing The Power of the Dog
Jane Campion
Music (Original Song) “No Time To Die” from No Time to Die
Music and Lyric by Billie Eilish and Finneas O’Connell
Documentary Feature Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised)
Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, Joseph Patel, Robert Fyvolent and David Dinerstein
Writing (Adapted Screenplay) CODA
Screenplay by Siân Heder
Writing (Original Screenplay) Belfast
Written by Kenneth Branagh
Costume Design Cruella
Jenny Beavan
International Feature Film Drive My Car (Japan)
A C&I Entertainment/Culture Entertainment/Bitters End Production
Actor in a Supporting Role Troy Kotsur
CODA
Animated Feature Film Encanto
Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Yvett Merino and Clark Spencer
Visual Effects Dune
Paul Lambert, Tristan Myles, Brian Connor and Gerd Nefzer
Cinematography Dune
Greig Fraser
Actress in a Supporting Role Ariana DeBose
West Side Story
Makeup and Hairstyling The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Linda Dowds, Stephanie Ingram and Justin Raleigh
Production Design Dune
Production Design: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Zsuzsanna Sipos
Film Editing Dune
Joe Walker
Music (Original Score) Dune
Hans Zimmer
Live Action Short Film The Long Goodbye
Aneil Karia and Riz Ahmed
Animated Short Film The Windshield Wiper
Alberto Mielgo and Leo Sanchez
Documentary Short Subject The Queen of Basketball
Ben Proudfoot
Best Sound Dune
Mac Ruth, Mark Mangini, Theo Green, Doug Hemphill and Ron Bartlett
The 31-year-old half-Puerto Rican actress/singer/dancer, who made history with her SAG Awards win on Sunday, is set to join Sony Pictures’ Marvel film Kraven the Hunter, starring Aaron Taylor Johnson in the titular role.
Although it’s unconfirmed, sources say DeBose would play Calypso in the movie.
J.C. Chandor is directing the film with Avi Arad and Matt Tolmach producing. Art Marcum and Matt Holloway and Richard Wenk penned the screenplay.
One of Sony Pictures’ universe of Marvel characters, Kraven is among Marvel’s most iconic and notorious antiheroes who has encountered Venom and Black Panther among many others as well as being one of Spider-Man’s best-known and most-formidable enemies. The film will be released theatrically January 13, 2023.
As for Calypso, she is a voodoo priestess who utilizes magic potions, and besides being an adversary of Spider-Man, she is also the occasional partner and lover of Kraven.
Sony is coming off a hot streak, with Spider-Man: No Way Home becoming the biggest film of 2021 with $1.8 billion in worldwide sales after Venom: Let There Be Carnage made more than $500 million worldwide. As for future films, the Jared Leto-starrer Morbiusbows in the U.S. in April, and the studio just named Dakota Johnson to lead Madame Web.
DeBose’s stock has been skyrocketing following her scene-stealing role as Anita in Steven Spielberg’s Oscar-nominated West Side Story adaptation. Besides taking home the SAG Award for Supporting Actress, DeBose also has Oscars, BAFTA and Critics Choice nominations in the same category.
She’ll next appear in Matthew Vaughn’s action film Argyllefrom Apple, starring opposite Henry Cavill, Bryan Cranston, Samuel L. Jackson and Dua Lipa, and will also star in Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s space thriller I.S.S. alongside Chris Messina and Pilou Asbaek.
Details about Plaza’s role are being kept under wraps, but she’s believed to be playing a villain opposite Hahn and Locke, according to Deadline.
