Does the upcoming Disney+ Series, She-Hulk have a lead actress after all?
Editor’s Note: Before we launch into the article at length, we weren’t actually going to respond to this news at all, but seeing as we cover the Disney+ shows and movies and the MCU, we thought we might as well. We want answers to whether Jennifer Walters has been cast in She-Hulk just as much as anyone else.
Ahh… what the hell is going on? In the past few days, it has been alleged that Tatiana Maslany has not been cast as the titular She-Hulk, according to The Sudbury Star.
This whole situation has come out of the blue as it was revealed just over a month ago that the actress, best known for her role in Orphan Black had been lucky enough to be added to the She-Hulk series as Bruce Banner’s cousin, Jennifer Walters. The casting was confirmed by Jessica Gao, the showrunner for the show in a retweet of an article by Deadline Hollywood.
Deadline Hollywood is a reliable source and so are media outlets like The Hollywood Reporter. So, if Maslany is telling the truth, how could the news get it wrong?
Theories
There’s a number of things that could be going on here. Please note, these are just theories and we’re going to break them down the best we can.
Jessica Gao Was Under Pressure
When you’re the sole showrunner of a series, you want everything to go right. So, could it be possible that Jessica Gao the woman heading She-Hulk could have been under pressure to announce someone to play the titular role? There is a likelihood of this, but we need to stress that Marvel Studios and Disney have a reputation of not making mistakes this large if there is one.
Gao would’ve had advice from Marvel head Kevin Fiege himself as he deals with decisions like this all the time. Also, if it wasn’t true, why would she retweet an article with fake news? It would put a dark mark next to her name if she were to go and do another project.
Tatiana Maslany Is Playing Coy About Her Casting
There is every possibility that Maslany has been cast as Jennifer Walters but is playing coy about the role. This would be similar to it being rumored that Benedict Cumberbatch was playing Khan in Star Trek Into Darkness and J.J. Abrams denying it. That news ended up being very true.
The Casting Was A Misdirect
Now, this is probably unlikely but what if the casting was a misdirect? What this means is that they’re making us believe there is someone cast in the role, but there’s actually not.
This is not a tactic any studio would use if they want to keep investors.
The Casting Is A Just A Rumour But Was Reported As Fact
Perhaps Tatiana Maslany is right and her casting is a rumour but was reported as a fact. This is not the first time this has happened.
In recent months, it has been rumoured that a bunch of animated Star Wars characters would make their live-action debuts in The Mandalorian Season 2 including Ahsoka Tano, Bo-Katan Kryze, and Captain Rex. None of these have been confirmed.
Many of the reports came from sources that vary in accuracy. The lowest we’re betting is 85%. The reason for this is that the media outlets reporting on these types of things need to be 100% certain with their sources before they publish anything. If they’re wrong and it could push their credibility into dangerous territory. There are sites, however, that just publish stuff without ensuring that it’s true first. Not to mention, there are readers who believe everything these clickbait sites write.
However, even accurate websites are known to make mistakes from time-to-time. It’s only human to get something wrong.
What We Think
Now, do we believe there is something more to this? Maybe. If Tatiana hadn’t been cast as Jennifer Walters, Jessica wouldn’t have retweeted the Deadline article. If we’re honest, there’s every possibility that Maslany is simply downplaying it and being told to.
Why would Marvel tell her to do this? Well, with everything doing on in the world right now with the coronavirus, there is no guarantee that production will begin when it is meant to. Like we mentioned earlier, we could dealing with a Cumberbatch is Khan situation.
When we have more information we will keep you all updated.
