The search for the gay lead in Marvel’s upcoming film adaptation of The Eternals continues.
A new report suggests How to Get Away With Murder star Conrad Ricamora has tossed his hat into the ring.
Ricamora, who descends from Filipino heritage and identifies as gay in real life, is up for an undisclosed role, described only as “intellectual, emotional, and has a strong sense of family.”
Fans continue to speculate as to the identity of the character.
The Eternals follows a group of near-immortal beings imbued with special powers and abilities. Once worshiped as the gods in ancient Greek mythology, they left Earth so as not to interfere with human evolution. They returned to Earth during the 20th century to act as superheroes, often teaming with The Avengers to defend against a variety of enemies.
Marvel Studios has enjoyed a run of success with recent films focusing on diverse superheroes, including Black Panther and Captain Marvel.
Recently, studio head Kevin Feige announced that The Eternals would feature a major gay character, and actors Wilson Cruz and Brian Jordan Alvarez have said they both auditioned for the role.
Related: Marvel Studios president confirms a gay superhero is coming soon to a theater near you
theafricanwiththemouth
He’s amazing, handsome and will definitely do a perfect job it given the chance!
Gadfeal
Whey don’t they choose an Asian male – not a Eurasian male. Remora is half-Philippino/half-White. So was the lead make in “Crazy rich Asians”. Even Bruce Lee was 25% White. This is a half-a…d measure, beyond tokenism.
This reminds me of early Hollywood film when only pale-skinned “Blacks” like Lena Horne (who was no darker than a tanned White person) or Harry Belafonte were cast as leads.
There are some very good-looking Asian actors such as Choi Si Won (Korea).
BornTo
Maybe he was the best actor for the job? Just a hunch.
bonbon
Can Choi Si Won even speak English properly?
Kangol
There are quite a few gorgeous Asian American actors who could play a gay super hero, especially if, as we often hear people arguing on here, the actor’s sexual orientation doesn’t matter. What about Naveen Andrews, who is so sexy? Or Simu Liu, who’s Asian Canadian and super hot? Or Daniel Dae Kim? Or Godfrey Gao, also Asian Canadian? Or Dennis Oh? Or Rick Yune? Or Harry Shum Jr.? If the role calls for a bit of snark, what about Utkarsh Ambudkar? He’s sexy and really funny too. Also, I’m not sure if Sachin Bhatt acts, but he is gorgeous and used to appear regularly on Queerty’s thirst trap page. Just let him keep his chest hair, please!
jjose712
In this case the sexual orientation matters.
They want a gay actor to play a gay superhero and they were very clear about that.
In my opinion acting is acting and everybody should play any role if they fit the role, and i’m perfectly ok with straight actors playing gay roles if they do a good job (and are secure about their sexuality, because it’s a little tiresome listen interviews where the actor in worrier about eveybody get clear he is straight than promoting the film or the show).
But given the fact that gay actors have more trouble to get straight roles or even prominent gay roles, i’m perfectly ok if for once being gay is an advantage to get a prominent role
AgainNagain
How do you know all these gay Asian actors? How much TV do we have watch just to know their names? Frankly speaking, I don’t know any other gay Asian actor other than BD Wong.
okiloki
It was only a few years ago when Hollywood and tv started casting darker skin actresses in roles. I work in advertising and one of the comments from the clients once was to make the black family lighter skinned. And it’s only been the last year or so when they started casting more fully Asian American actors since the unspoken rule was to try to cast Happas in the rare case they needed an Asian face. Things have improved a lot even though there is still a long way to go.
Hussain-TheCanadian
@ Kangol
Dayum Kangol, you have good taste – I want Dennis Oh, hes so yummy
Kangol
@hussain, thanks! I’d love to see all of these actors more. A lot more, in starring roles.
@AgainNagain, if you watch films or TV and see actors you think are talented, hot or both, you never look them up? Imdb is a great resource for this. Naveen Andrews was on Lost & Sens8; Simu Liu’s on Kim’s Convenience; Daniel Dae Kim was also on Lost & in Crash, etc. That’s how I know who these guys are.