Spoilers below for WandaVision Episode 7
We’re in the back half of WandaVision‘s season and the critically-acclaimed Marvel Cinematic Universe series on Disney+ continues to keep people on their toes. Fans are stunned week after week at the easter eggs and development.
The most recent episode finally saw Monica Rambeau (Teyonah Parris) get her superpowers. She hasn’t used them yet and she’s not fully Photon (or Spectrum, perhaps), but they are there!
Shadow and Act spoke to Parris ahead of Friday’s episode 7 premiere and she talked to us about landing the role of Rambeau, how she learned about the character and being surprised at the character’s MCU involvement already.
After telling Parris people have fancast her in the MCU for years as the character of Storm, Parris said, “It’s so funny. You talk about fan casting because fans had also been casting me as Monica Rambeau, which is when I first heard of her on Twitter back when I was on Twitter [laughs]. They were tagging me and fancasting me in that. So I started to look up who she was and just learn about her story.”
Soon, she learned of the plans to bring the character to the MCU for real. “So once I saw that she had entered the MCU as the young girl we met in Captain Marvel played by Akira Akbar,” Parris explained. “I was really excited, but you just never know how things could go. I didn’t really expect that there would be a grown, Black female superhero entering the chat anytime soon. So I kind of let it go. But then when it came around and I ended up getting the role, I was thrilled and I’m still thrilled and just grateful and honored for the opportunity to tell Monica Rambeau’s story.”
Speaking of Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel II is in early development. Parris couldn’t speak too much about the upcoming film, but did share her excitement about taking on the upcoming film. The pic will be a reunion of sorts for Parris and director Nia DaCosta, who also directed her in the upcoming Candyman film.
“I’m excited to continue telling Monica’s story,” she continued. “I think the creatives here on WandaVision have done such a wonderful job at making sure that Monica is this well-rounded, fully fleshed-out character and that she has a point of view, point of view and opinions and passions and ambitions. Having that much to work with here and knowing that Captain Marvel 2 is on the horizon, here I’ll get to join Brie Larson, and Iman [Vellani] and Nia who I’ve already worked with. And I’m also excited for what this means for her being the first Black woman to direct a Marvel Studios film. It’s just so many exciting things. And it’s been such a wonderful experience here on WandaVision. I’m really looking forward to continuing on this journey.”
Watch the full interview below, in which she also talked the pressure of being in the MCU, Good Times’ Willona being the inspiration for WandaVision’s “Geraldine” in the ’70s and more:
