Abubakr Ali Cast as Titular Anti-Hero for Netflix’s ‘Grendel’

Middle East and North African (MENA) and Muslim people have had scant options when it comes to the superhero genre or comic book adaptations generally. Arab and Persian people in particular have most often been vilified in popular media through the decades. But this is thankfully starting to change, such as with the Tarazi siblings on DC’s Legends of Tomorrow for Persian people, but perhaps now for Arab people with the news from Deadline that Netflix is developing a Grendel series, based on Matt Wagner’s comic series of the same name, and has cast The CW’s Katy Keene star and Abubakr Ali in the starring role!

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Grab Your Baseball Caps: ‘Attack The Block 2’ is Official

Before he was briefly wielding Luke’s lightsaber, or taking down entire fleets of Stormtroopers, John Boyega was part of a little project called Attack the Block. “Little” of course being a massive understatement. Though it took a minute, Attack the Block became a smash success, developing a cult following thanks to its clever blend of science fiction horror and comedy. That, and its incredible cast that included John Boyega, Jodie Whitaker, and Nick Frost.

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Marvel’s ‘Shang-Chi’ Film is on the Fast Track, Searching for Director

by Dominic Mah | Originally posted on YOMYOMF

Deadline reports that Marvel Studios is fast-tracking a feature film based on Shang-Chi, arguably the preeminent Asian hero in the Marvel Universe. Chinese-American screenwriter Dave Callaham (hey, he’s from Fresno!) currently is on-board to write the script. From Deadline:

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Orange is the New Black: Racebending Redheads

The ever-expanding DC Universe on The CW just got a little bigger. Relative newcomer Ciara Renee has been cast as Kendra Saunders, aka Hawkgirl, in the still-unnamed Flarrow spinoff that will also star Brandon Routh and Caity Lotz from Arrow and Victor Garber and Wentworth Miller from The Flash.

What’s unmistakable about this casting, though, is the fact that Hollywood producers have once again gone “ethnic” when casting a traditionally redheaded character from the comics. So I have to ask, has the pendulum swung too far? Is this too much of a good thing?

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