The cast of Marvel’s Ironheart is expanding: This Is Us cast favourite Lyric Ross has signed on for the upcoming Disney+ series. Her role is not yet known, but it’s believed she’ll be playing the best friend of Riri Williams, aka Ironheart, played by Judas and the Black Messiah’s Dominque Thorne.
Ross took to Instagram to post her reaction to the news, which was first relayed by the Hollywood Reporter; alongside a clipping of the announcement, she admitted “I literally don’t have words right now, this is pretty surreal” to her followers.
The Marvel line-up on Disney+ so far has included WandaVision, Loki, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Hawkeye, as well as the animated What If? The upcoming Disney+ line-up is stacked; besides Ironheart, there’s also Moon Knight, She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel, Echo, Secret Invasion, and Agatha: House of Harkness in the pipeline. Just where on the release schedule Ironheart will fall remains to be seen as these shows have shuffled around before, though Thorne’s Riri Williams is slated to appear first in November’s Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. (Check out our handy and constantly updated Marvel Studios release guide here.)
A character originally created by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Mike Deodato, Riri Williams is a genius inventor who manages to create an advanced AI and suit of armour following the legacy of Tony Stark’s Iron-Man. In the comics, Natalie Washington — quite possibly Ross’ character, though it has not been revealed if she’ll be playing Natalie, an interpretation of Natalie, or another character altogether — is Riri’s best friend; in a later run she inspires NATALIE, Riri’s version of Stark’s JARVIS.
Ironheart also stars Anthony Ramos of In the Heights and Hamilton fame, with Snowpiercer’s Chinaka Hodge attached as the head writer for the upcoming series. We’ll bring you more on the series as and when we learn it.