The MonsterVerse is still chiefly a film franchise, with all five released movies available to stream with a Max subscription, and a sixth movie is coming out in 2027. However, if you’re signed up for an Apple TV+ subscription, you’ll have access to the franchise’s sole live-action TV offering, Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Three months after Season 1 concluded, Monarch was renewed for Season 2, and I’m delighted by how the cast celebrated the end of production nearly a year after the big announcement.

Monarch Season 2 began filming in July 2024, and eight months later, cameras have officially stopped rolling on the next batch of episodes. This update shared on Instagram and other social media platforms was accompanied by a picture of actors Anna Sawai, Kiersey Clemons, Ren Watabe and Takehiro Hira, as well as an amusing message for us to not look too closely at the wreckage surrounding them.

Hmmmm, something tells me there might have been some Titan activity in this area. While I suspect the characters these four play aren’t having the best of times in whatever this scene for Monarch: Legacy of Monsters is, Sawai, Clemons, Watabe and Hira look like they’re having a blast. Eight months is a long time to work on a TV show and even some movies, so they were undoubtedly ecstatic once filming wrapped.

Although I can’t say this with 100% certainty, that’s likely where the Monarch cast and crew shot Skull Island scenes. The Operation Hourglass vehicle majorly supports this theory, as Sawai’s Cate Randa, Clemons’ May and Mari Yamamoto’s Keiko were able to escape Axis Mundy, the realm between Earth and Hollow Earth, in it. In the final minutes of Monarch Season 1’s ending, the trio emerged on Skull Island, albeit about a year and a half after Cate and May were thrown into Axis Mundy.

So if I’m correct, and I’m pretty sure I am, we’ll be spending more time on Skull Island in Monarch Season 2, which makes sense. After all, with an Apex Cybernetics facility established on the island, as well as Kong still living there at this point in the MonsterVerse timeline, it’d be a waste not to revisit this location where so many of the Titans reside. However, with so much wreckage strewn around, evidently some of these giant monsters are going to cause quite the ruckus around some of Skull Island’s manmade structures.

With Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 1 taking place a year after the events of Godzilla, Season 2 will occur roughly two years before Godzilla: King of the Monsters. While specific plot details remain a tightly-guarded secret, Anna Sawai did say last November that she hopes Cate Randa will have more agency in this next chapter. We also know that Prey’s Amber Midthunder has been cast in Monarch Season 2 to play an “intelligent and powerful businesswoman.” 

It’s nice to know that Monarch: Legacy of Monsters Season 2 is done filming, but it hasn’t revealed yet when it will debut on Apple TV+. Maybe it’ll be ready in time for a late drop on the 2025 TV schedule, or maybe it’ll be saved until 2026. Either way, count on CinemaBlend to continue sharing updates about what’s ahead on Monarch.

Following her reprisal of Iris West in The Flash, the second of the DC movies to come out on the 2023 release schedule, Kiersey Clemons is rounding out her year as one of the main cast members of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. The MonsterVerse TV show available to Apple TV+ subscribers sees the actress playing May, an American hacker who gets drawn into Anna Sawai’s Cate Randa and Ren Watanabe’s Kentaro Randa’s Titan-filled journey uncovering the secrets of the Monarch scientific organization. With two blockbuster franchises under her belt, Clemons explained to me during a recent interview how working on Monarch following her time in the DCEU has been “really gratifying.”

Although our their first taste of Clemons as Iris West in Zack Snyder’s Justice League when it was released to Max subscribers in early 2021, The Flash marked her first time playing the character in a theatrically-released movie, although her screen time was minimal since she wasn’t involved in the main story surrounding Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen. May, on the other hand, is right in the middle of the action on Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, and when I spoke with the actress on behalf of CinemaBlend while she was with Sawai and Watanabe, here’s what she had to say about what having such an important role in the series means to her:

Again, Kiersey Clemons was more on the sidelines in The Flash since the movie primarily followed the present-day Barry Allen traveling back to an alternate 2013, where he teamed up with his younger self, Michael Keaton’s Batman and Sasha Calle’s Supergirl. Between that and her screen time in Zack Snyder’s Justice League limited to Barry saving her from a car crash, she wasn’t given much to do in the DCEU. With Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, she wasn’t lacking for exciting and physically-exerting scenes to shoot in various locations around the world. So in addition to that making for a “very satisfying” work experience, Clemons also found herself getting stronger as production chugged along, and what she went though doesn’t sound like any small feat.

As the actress indirectly mentioned, one of the major sequences she was involved with on Monarch was when May, Cate and Kentaro, as well as Kurt Russell’s Lee Shaw, were in Alaska fleeing the Frost Vark, which was the “most challenging” Titan for the show’s VFX team to design. Russell also mentioned this sequence when I spoke with him, saying it reminded him of when he shot The Thing in the early ‘80s. With Monarch at its halfway point, there are still plenty of twists and turns left to explore on this show, including seeing what comes of May secretly contacting Elisa Lasowski’s Duvall agreeing to cooperate with her demands in exchange for finally going home.

New episodes of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters drop Fridays on Apple TV+. Although it remains to be seen if the series will return for a second season, the MonsterVerse will pick back up when Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire hits the 2024 movies schedule on April 12. Those signed up for Max can stream the franchise’s previous four movies, and Netflix subscribers can view the animated series Skull Island.

In 2016, Kiersey Clemons was revealed as Zack Snyder’s choice to portray Iris West, the enduring main love interest and supporting character to Ezra Miller's The Flash, as seen in DC comics and other media. However, if you've been keeping up with the convoluted history of the now-deceased DC Extended Universe in recent years, you're aware that her time in the franchise was far from smooth. From numerous delays and changes in directors to “humiliating” rumors of potential recasting, the young actress expresses her contentment with moving on from DC movies after dedicating "years" to the series. She also addressed whether she'd return to it.

The Swarm star recently sat down with The Direct while promoting her new MonsterVerse series. Reflecting on her work in as part of the cast of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, the star touched on her brief stint in the DCEU, admitting:

Having initially signed on for a much different take on the Scarlett Speedster in Rick Famuyiwa's vision of the hero, the Praise Petey alum found herself in a less-than-ideal situation due to The Flash's numerous delays, recastings and a series of directorial changes. Her sentiments on the matter were further clarified when she was asked about the possibility of returning as Iris West:

Reading Kiersey Clemons' remarks, one can’t help but sense a hint of closure and her excitement for a fresh chapter in her career. Frankly, given the thankless task she faced in recent box office letdown The Flash, it feels unlikely that the Antebellum actress will tackle any upcoming superhero movies any time soon. Who can honestly blame her?

As James Gunn’s DCU reboot looms, signaling the end of Zack Snyder’s era in the DC universe, Kiersey Clemons seamlessly transitions into the MonsterVerse. She takes center stage in the series Monarch: Legacy of Monsters. Positioned between 2014’s Godzilla and 2019’s King of the Monsters, the show delves into a family’s connections with Monarch, the scientific organization at the forefront of studying the recently unveiled Titans. She's dwelled in the world of heroes, but it'll be truly interesting to see what she does in the realm of monsters.

Catch her in Monarch: Legacy of Monsters, exclusively with an Apple TV+ subscription. You can also still stream the star's appearances as Iris West in Zack Snyder's Justice League and The Flash using a Max subscription.

Kiersey Clemons was first cast to play Iris West in The Flash back in 2016, and over half a decade later, she’s finally made her theatrical debut as the character in the long-awaited DC movie. This follows two years after Clemons was first seen playing Iris in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, which was originally released exclusively to Max subscribers. However, while the actress’ overall experience on Justice League wasn’t exactly a cakewalk given how she was cut from the theatrical version, there was an element with The Flash that ultimately made this project more “humiliating for her.”

When Clemons was added to The Flash, director Rick Famuyiwa, whom she’d previously worked with on 2015’s Dope, was attached to helm the Scarlet Speedster’s solo movie, having succeeded Seth Grahame-Smith in the position. Towards the end of 2017 though, Famuyiwa left The Flash due to creative differences, and it was at this point that Clemons started hearing that someone else might replace her as Iris. She explained to Nylon:

Like Willem Dafoe, Ryan Zheng and more, Kiersey Clemons was among the actors who was removed from Justice League’s theatrical cut following Zack Snyder leaving the production and Joss Whedon taking over for extensive reshoots. By this point, The Flash not only wasn’t going to make its 2018 release, it was also undated on the upcoming DC movies calendar, and would remain that way until Andy Muschietti was hired as director. So there was a lot of uncertainty surrounding The Flash during this time, and unfortunately for Clemons, she found herself questioning whether she’d be in the movie at all. That combined with not getting to team with Famuyiwa again was worse for her than learning she wouldn’t be seen in Justice League.

Fortunately, by March 2021, just a week before Zack Snyder’s Justice League was released, it was reported that Clemons would still appear in The Flash. A little over two years later, The Flash has finally arrived in theaters, nearly a decade after the DCEU incarnation of the project was announced, and following years worth of controversy surrounding Ezra Miller, its lead actor. With so many complications, the actress expressed relief in the interview that this movie is finally behind her, saying:

Clemons also joked that she’s been telling people that The Flash is cursed, saying that from her perspective, “someone was over there mixing potions. Something was happening.” Given The Flash’s underwhelming box office performance and the DC Universe Chapter One slate ushering in a new shared continuity, the odds aren’t looking good right now for the actress to reprise Iris West in The Flash 2. Which is a shame, because she didn’t have much screen time in the first movie, and since Andy Muschiett has confirmed Ezra Miller would lead the sequel if it’s greenlit, it would be nice to see Barry Allen and Iris develop a deeper relationship like they have in the comics.

For those interested in Kiersey Clemons’ wider body of work, she also starred in the movie Somebody I Used to Know and the TV show Swarm, both of which were released to Amazon Prime Video subscribers earlier this year. Looking ahead, her upcoming projects include Susie Searches, Praise Petey, The Young Wife and Godzilla and the Titans. Keep track of what lays ahead on the cinematic front with our 2023 release schedule and 2024 release schedule.

When it comes to the latest 2023 TV releases, I’m sure there are plenty that have been on our minds. During January and February, many were constantly thinking of The Last of Us (which just finished its first season), or maybe Ted Lasso Season 3 on Apple TV+. But, how about I turn you on to a brand new show that is like a combination of Stephen King’s fantastic novel, Misery, mixed with today’s pop culture? Welcome to Swarm, a show co-created by the talented Donald Glover and Janine Nabers, telling the story of a young woman who is obsessed with a modern-day popstar (who is a lot like our real-life Beyoncé) and takes the love she has for her to a whole new level. 

The new horror/thriller series on Amazon is likely to become one of the best Amazon Prime shows, and with a small but very talented cast, I’m sure you’ve most probably plenty of these actors before. Let’s get into where else you might have seen the Swarm cast.

Dominique Fishback (Dre)

First up on this list is Dominique Fishback, who portrays Dre in Swarm, the aforementioned obsessed character that we follow, and see just how far her love for the popstar goes. Fishback is certainly not new to the world of television and movies, and has done so much that you might have recognized her from before her starring role.

In terms of movies, Fishback has appeared in films like Judas and the Black Messiah, The Hate U Give, Project Power, and is going to be featured in the upcoming Transformers: Rise of the Beast. She was also in the film Night Comes On. 

She has also had plenty of success in television. Besides guest roles on big shows such as The Affair and The Americans, among others, Fishback had a recurring role on Show Me A Hero, and portrayed Darlene on The Deuce. The star also had a main role on The Last Day of Ptolemy Grey. 

Chlöe Bailey (Marissa)

Moving on with this cast, we take a look at Chlöe Bailey, who plays Marissa, Dre's sister and someone who is obviously not as obsessed with this popstar as she is. That last name might sound very familiar, as Bailey is actually known for a lot of her music with her sister, Halle Bailey (who is portraying Ariel in the live-action The Little Mermaid), professionally known as Chlöe x Halle.

However, she has also done plenty in movies and television as well. In terms of movies, she appeared in the musical films, Joyful Noise and Let It Shine, as well as Jane in 2022, and Meet the Browns, among other smaller films. Bailey also was a part of the main cast of Grown-ish, had a guest role on Black-ish, and guest starred on several other TV shows. 

Damson Idris (Khalid) 

Next up on the list is Damson Idris, who portrays Khalid, Marissa’s boyfriend. Idris is primarily known for his role on the hit drama, Snowfall, but he’s done plenty of other work in the world of movies and television. With movies, he’s had big roles in films like the Liam Neeson-led, The Commuter, as well as the Netflix original film, Outside the Wire. He also appeared in Farming and Astral. 

With television, he had a guest role on the Jordan Peele TV show, The Twilight Zone, as well as a guest role on Black Mirror, and a guest role in Doctors, Miranda, and Casualty. It’s awesome to see him in a main role such as this. 

Rickey Thompson

Moving on, we have Rickey Thompson in Swarm, who has mainly been on television prior to his role in the Amazon Prime show. Thompson was in the YouTube Original series Foursome from 2016 to 2018, and also was in the film, Good Mourning.

Paris Jackson

The next cast member we’re talking about is Paris Jackson, who is actually the daughter of famed musician Michael Jackson. The actress has been breaking into acting more over the last few years, and her role in Swarm will be more proof of that. Jackson hasn’t been in that many movies, with her only roles so far being in Gringo, The Space Between, Habit, and Sex Appeal, but she’s starting to do more in TV. 

Besides the guest roles where she played feature herself, she had a special recurring role on Star, and was a part of the American Horror Stories Season 1 cast for several episodes, so we’ve already seen her dive into some interesting horror – specifically, the Ryan Murphy horror world. 

Rory Culkin

Besides Macaulay and Kieran, Rory Culkin is another one of the siblings who has since continued his career from child acting and appeared in many movies and TV shows – the latest now being Swarm. 

Culkin has appeared in a plethora of big movies you may have seen, such as Richie Rich, You Can Count On Me, the horror film, Signs, Mean Creek, The Zodiac, The Night Listener, Scream 4 of the Scream franchise, Jack Goes Home, Intruders, Lords of Chaos, Materna, and more. He also had a guest role in The Job on television, a recurring role on Castle Rock, and was in the miniseries Under the Banner of Heaven.

Kiersey Clemons 

Moving on, we take a look at Kiersey Clemons, who is a guest star on Swarm. Clemons has done so much in the world of movies, including Hearts Beat Loud alongside Nick Offerman, Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, Sweetheart, Zack Snyder’s Justice League, Flatliners, Dope, Amazon's recent film Somebody I Used To Know, and so many more. 

Clemons also had a recurring role on the series Transparent, and had big roles on both Extant and Easy. Most recently, she had a main role in 2018 on the show Angie Tribeca. 

Byron Bowers

Last but not least, we have Byron Bowers, another guest star in the new series. Byron is primarily known for his comedy, but he’s done plenty of acting in both film and television. Some of the highlights of his career include appearances and roles on The Eric Andre Show, the Showtime series, The Chi, Honey Boy, No Sudden Move, The Pete Holmes Show, Viceland, and so many more. 

Now, if you hadn't seen these actors before, you've found something new to watch them in. And, hopefully, you won’t get as obsessed with them as Dre does in Swarm.  

Some of you may know Kiersey Clemons from movies like Dope, Flatliners (the 2017 version) and Disney’s live-action remake of Lady and the Tramp, while others may have seen her on TV shows like Transparent, New Girl and the currently-running Fairfax, which can be streamed with an Amazon Prime Video subscription. It’s safe to say, though, that a lot of people will be introduced to her later this year in The Flash, one of four upcoming DC movies slated for this year. As it turns out, Clemons also had the opportunity to join the Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, but contrary to her initial belief, her audition did not go well… at all.

Ahead of The Flash’s release, and while plugging her latest movie, Amazon’s Somebody I Used To Know, on The Jennifer Hudson Show, Kiersey Clemons recalled how her attempt to score a role in one of the Pirates of the Caribbean movies failed miserably. She started off by explaining how sure she was at the time that she’d nailed her audition, saying:

While Kiersey Clemons specify which Pirates of the Caribbean movie she auditioned for, it’s likely she was referring to 2017’s Dead Men Tell No Tales, which saw Johnny Depp’s Jack Sparrow going up against Javier Bardem’s Armando Salazar. In another universe, Clemons might have scored that role, and that would have taken her acting career down a different path. But that’s not what happened in our reality. So what went wrong? Apparently Clemons misjudged how the character she was auditioning for was supposed to behave. As she put it:

Kiersey Clemons finished her story by sharing the most embarrassing part of it all: she wanted a chance to redo her audition. She got that chance, but when she entered the room, the first thing she exclaimed was, “You can’t get rid of me!” That must have been the final straw since Clemons was nowhere to be seen in a Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Perhaps that’s for the best though given how the franchise has been at a standstill since Dead Men Tell No Tales critically and commercially underwhelmed. Efforts are underway to get Pirates of the Caribbean 6 off the ground, and producer Jerry Bruckheimer has said he hopes the Margot Robbie-led spinoff can move forward too.

Fortunately for Kiersey Clemons, she was recruited to a different blockbuster franchise, and while her first outing as Iris West was cut from Justice League’s theatrical release, it was added back in for Zack Snyder’s Justice League. The four-hour cut showed Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen using his super speed to rescue Iris from a traffic accident. While Clemons will be back as Iris for The Flash, specific details on how she fits into the story haven’t been revealed yet.

The Flash races into theaters on June 16, and Kiersey Clemons was pleased to hear about the praise that DC Studios co-head James Gunn gave it. If you now find yourself in the mood to rewatch the Pirates of the Caribbean movies, Disney+ subscribers can easily stream those.

After being cut out of Justice League’s theatrical release in late 2017, Kiersey Clemons’ performance as Iris West finally got to be seen thanks to Zack Snyder’s Justice League being released in 2021. Now Clemons is set to return as Iris this summer in The Flash, which DC Studios co-head James Gunn called “one of the best superhero movies I've ever seen” earlier this week. Clemons has since reacted to the kind words directed that the 2023 new movie release.

While attending the red carpet premiere in Culver City for her new movie Somebody I Used To Know (which will be viewable to Amazon Prime Video subscribers starting February 10), Kiersey Clemons was asked by THR is she’d heard what James Gunn had said about The Flash while presenting the slate for the new DC Universe’s Chapter 1, a.k.a. “Gods and Monsters” (which included some massive Batman updates). Clemons confirmed that she did know “he said very nice things,” and then shared the following about her experience working on The Flash (indirectly referring to the controversy surrounding lead actor Ezra Miller):

Besides Ezra Miller, who’s been playing the cinematic Flash since 2016’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Kiersey Clemons has been attached to The Flash the longest. She was cast as Iris West back in 2016, and in 2021, she signed a new deal to appear in the movie following several years of uncertainty over whether she was still involved. So far all we’ve seen of Iris in the DCEU is when Barry used his super speed to rescue from a car accident, though since he wasn’t in costume at the time, it’s unclear if Iris is aware he’s a speedster.

James Gunn isn’t the only one who’s been complimentary about The Flash. Last June, it was reported that the movie was “extraordinarily well received” in test screenings. Keep in mind, though, that the version of The Flash that’s shown to the public later this year be different from what those earlier audiences saw due to certain changes made during postproduction. The Flash is one of four upcoming DC movies set for release this year, the others being Shazam! Fury of the Gods, Blue Beetle and Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom.

Much of The Flash’s plot remains a secret, but what we do know is it will involve Barry Allen traveling back in time to prevent his mother from being murdered, which causes unintended consequences to his timeline and leads to him traveling to other universes. Along with Miller and Kiersey Clemons, The Flash’s cast includes Ben Affleck and Michael Keaton reprising their versions of Batman, Sasha Calle as Supergirl, Michael Shannon as General Zod, Antje Traue as Faora-Ul, Ron Livingston as Henry Allen (taking over the role from Billy Crudup) and Maribel Verdú as Nora Allen. IT’s Andy Muschietti directed off a script written by Birds of Prey’s Christina Hodson.

The Flash races into theaters on June 16, and a new promo for the movie is expected to be shown during the Super Bowl on February 12. You can watch Ezra Miller’s previous appearances as Barry Allen in the DCEU with an HBO Max subscription.

It’s June, which means that it’s Pride Month, so we should celebrate in the best ways and watch movies with some iconic queer roles that deserve all the praise in the world, from classics like Brokeback Mountain to some newer films like Love, Simon. 

But, as I watched many of these, I realized that there are now several queer actors who would play the role just as well, if not better than some of their predecessors. Here are eight LGBTQ+ actors who I believe would be great picks if these movies ever got a remake.

Billy Porter - Frank N’ Furter in The Rocky Horror Picture Show

I mean, the fits, the style, the sass - Billy Porter would be absolutely perfect as Frank N. Furter if the iconic musical, The Rocky Horror Picture Show, was ever remade. While I do love Tim Curry in the original role, as he’s always had a very spirited acting style and certainly knows how to step into character, I just know that Billy Porter would be fantastic in a part like this. 

Look at Porter on shows such as Pose, where they regularly show off their dance moves and singing ability. Or even them in Cinderella - while they weren’t in the Amazon original movie for very long, there’s no denying that they stole the show with that dress and their awesome song. Porter would absolutely embody this role and become the best Frank N. Furter possible, I’m sure of it. 

Matt Bomer - Jack Twist - Brokeback Mountain 

Brokeback Mountain was a revolutionary film for the movie industry and was a huge stepping stone for queer cinema everywhere. Without movies like Brokeback Mountain, movies such as Love, Simon or even the latest Netflix hit, Heartstopper, would not be around now. 

But, that doesn’t change the fact that the two lead actors in the film weren’t in the LGBTQ+ community themselves. That’s not to say that they weren’t amazing in their roles, as both gave very compelling performances, but I know that if it were to be redone now there are several great queer actors who could portray the cowboys, and in this particular instance, I’m going to focus on Matt Bomer, who would play the heck out of Jack Twist, who was originally played by Jake Gyllenhaal. 

Again, Gyllenhaal is great, and he’s been in so many amazing films, but Bomer has surprised me with his ability as a dramatic actor in the FX drama, American Horror Story, or even the HBO original film, The Normal Heart. He would play a great Jack Twist, for sure. 

Joe Locke - Simon - Love, Simon

Love, Simon was another one of those movies that truly was a stepping stone in queer cinema for modern day films because it was so popular when it released and displayed a very wholesome, LGBTQ+ love story that anyone could enjoy. The film was so beloved that it received its own Hulu original spinoff, Love, Victor, a year later. 

Nick Robinson, who starred as Simon in the film, is not a part of the LGBTQ+ community, but certainly gave a great performance and created a great career from it. However, if the movie was redone now, I think that Heartstopper breakout, Joe Locke, would be absolutely perfect as Simon, as he’s already had that practice as a kid who falls in love with someone at school, and has that charming charisma to boot.  

Laverne Cox - Celie - The Color Purple 

I love Laverne Cox. I also love Whoopi Goldberg. Which is why I think Cox would be perfect to play Celie from The Color Purple if there ever was a remake. 

Whoopi Goldberg is, honestly, irreplaceable as Celie. Her performance was fantastic, and she won an Academy Award for it. There’s no denying that she is perfect as the character. But, we’re taking a look at iconic queer roles and seeing who could play them just as well today, and I do think Laverne Cox has what it takes. 

I’ve watched Cox ever since she first appeared in the Orange is the New Black cast as Sophia Burset, a transgender woman in a minimum-security prison, and God, she has made me cry so many times with her acting. While I love her in comedic roles, like her part in the Inventing Anna cast, there is something about her dramatic takes that just get me, and I have a feeling that she would be an amazing choice for a modern-day Celie.  

Jim Parsons - George Falconer - A Single Man

A Single Man was another great romantic drama with a fantastic cast, lead by Colin Firth, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of George Falconer. And while his role was well done and he truly gave a great performance, I know that there’s a gay actor who could have done just as well - and in my mind, I think that’s Jim Parsons. 

While many know him as comedic, smart, and awkward Sheldon Cooper from the Big Bang Theory cast, Parsons has proven time and time again how much of a fantastic dramatic actor he is, from parts in Hidden Figures, to the Netflix film, Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile, or even his starring performance in The Normal Heart. If he wanted a truly dramatic, romantic role, A Single Man would be the best option for him. 

Kiersey Clemons - Megan Bloomfield - But I’m A Cheerleader

Another teen comedy classic. Natasha Lyonne starred as Megan Bloomfield in But I’m A Cheerleader, a story about a teenager who learns that she likes woman more than men, and is sent to a conversion therapy camp. The film is so funny in so many ways, and if it were to be made today, I think Kiersey Clemons would be a good pick for the lead role. 

Kiersey Clemons, who identifies as queer, has already shown her talent in dramatic roles in films like Dope and Hearts Beat Loud, but she’s also shown her comedic acting skills in the movie Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising. I think a remake of But I’m A Cheerleader would be the perfect chance for her to combine both of those comedic and dramatic skills and really show her talent off, because she can be extremely funny, just like Lyonne. 

Elliot Page - Brandon Teena - Boys Don’t Cry

Boys Don’t Cry was a biographical film about a real-life trans man, Brandon Teena, who was trying to live his life in Nebraska but falls victim to a hate crime. In the original film, Hilary Swank, a cis woman, portrayed Brandon, and while she was great in the part and won an Academy Award for Best Actress, I do think that this role should go to an amazing trans actor, and I think Elliot Page would be the perfect choice. 

Elliot Page has already shown off his acting ability in many other critically acclaimed films, such as Juno, Inception, and many others, and considering he recently went public with his very personal transition and how much more content he feels in his own body now, I think that playing a role like Brandon in Boys Don’t Cry would be the best role for him to take. 

Jodie Foster - Carol - Carol

Last but not least, we have Carol in the 2015 film, Carol, originally played by Cate Blanchett, who was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. While Blanchett was amazing in as the character, as she is in many of her film roles, there could have been a more appropriate pick for a lesbian love story between an older woman and a young female photographer.

You know who would have played the role perfectly? Jodie Foster, an icon of the '90s. An Academy-Award winning actress who is also a part of the LGBTQ+ community, she would have embodied the role of Carol to perfection and truly shown some incredible talent to boot, at least as much as Cate Blanchett did. 

There are so many incredibly iconic LGBTQ+ rolls out there that I know would be fantastic today as well, and these are just some of my picks for who I think would be just as great. And if you haven’t had the chance to see all these films, be sure to check them out soon. 

When it comes to proper representation within the LGBTQ+ world, it can be hard to find those characters that truly stand out and are accurate portrayals. What’s even better is when you find an actor behind the character who is also a part of that community and shines in that role. That’s what we aim to talk about today.

There are so many actors we could point to in both movies and TV, from Owen Thiele in Adults, to some amazing films of the last few years, such as All of Us Are Strangers, Bombshell, and more. Let’s talk about some incredible performances of LGBTQ+ characters from the LGBTQ+ community in honor of Pride Month.

All Of Us Strangers – Andrew Scott As Adam

All Of Us Are Strangers released in late 2023 to rave reviews and while I personally don’t think it got nearly as much hype as it should have, the one thing I will comment on is Andrew Scott. While the LGBTQ+ actor has taken on roles such as this before, there’s just something so raw and real about his portrayal of Adam.

The story follows a lonely screenwriter who begins a romance with his mysterious neighbor while also experiencing a strange instance where he is able to see his parents again – the movie itself certainly feels like there’s a small layer of fantasy, but the themes itself make this film that much better, including the lovely portrayal from Scott, who has talked about beinga part of the LGBTQ+ community.

Love, Simon - Keiynan Lonsdale As Bram Greenfeld

Released in 2018, Love, Simon is a story about a closeted gay young adult who struggles to balance his life amongst the blackmailer that is threatening to out him at school – while also trying to identify the anonymous classmate that he has fallen in love with. The film became so popular that a Hulu spinoff, titled Love, Victor, premiered not that long after, but was canceled after Season 3

In Love, Simon, Keiynan Lonsdale portrays Bram Greenfeld, one of Simon’s classmates and an openly gay student, and Keiynan himself came out in 2017. The film made strides for having a gay protagonist, becoming one of the first mainstream film to showcase a gay teen romance.

Adults – Owen Theile As Anton

Hailing from FX on Hulu, Adults is a series about a group of twenty-somethings literally just trying to survive daily life in New York City and going through the motions of becoming a functioning adult. One character in it that I absolutely love is Anton, who is played by the fabulous Owen Theile.

While Thiele has appeared in various shows beforehand, 2025 has really shown just how talented he is with both lead roles in Adults and Overcompensating (but I kind of like Adults just a smidge more). Anton is a hilarious character, and Owen Thiele rocks it. Thiele is a part of the LGBTQ+ community, and has even called for action to demand equal rights by donating to several charities (via Instagram).

Rustin – Colman Domingo As Bayard Rustin 

Rustin itself was more of an under-the-radar critical darling of 2023, as it was one of CinemaBlend’s best movies of 2023, but you want to know what wasn’t? Colman Domingo’s performance as Bayard Rustin. It follows the story of the real-life civil rights activist who worked with MLK Jr. to organize the iconic 1963 March on Washington for equal rights in America.

Colman Domingo shines in his portrayal of Bayard Rustin, and his performance was so critically acclaimed that he earned an Academy Award nomination. Colman Domingo has become a much bigger name the last few years with many of the roles he had portrayed, and he even spoke in an interview with Advocate in 2021 that he hopes he’s breaking new ground for young Black gay men in Hollywood:

Bombshell - Kate McKinnon As Jess Carr

Moving into the drama genre, we take a look at Kate McKinnon in Bombshell. You might recognize her name from her amazing performances on the classic late night television show Saturday Night Live, which she left in 2022, or maybe even from comedy movies such as the 2016 Ghostbusters or Office Christmas Party. But Kate McKinnon has an amazing range as an actress, and she showed that off when playing Jess Carr as part of the Bombshell cast.

While her character was fictional (set within a film that was based on true events), her role as the Fox News employee Jess Carr was impactful, and showed what it might be like for a closeted lesbian who works in a primarily conservative news space.

Yellowjackets – Liv Hewson as Vanessa Palmer

While Liv Hewson has been around in the TV world for a while, I absolutely love them as teenage Vanessa Palmer in the hit Showtime series, Yellowjackets. Vanessa is a character that had both stakes in the flashbacks of the world as well as modern-day, and her story of resilience is one that I truly love.

Hewson in real life identifies as non-binary, and uses they/them pronouns, according to Teen Vogue. The actor says that they have “never been happier” since they received gender-affirming surgery:

The Normal Heart - Jim Parsons As Tommy Boatwright

Since starring as Shelden Cooper on The Big Bang Theory, Jim Parsons continues to take on new and exciting roles in both film and television. Everyone knows who he is and how often he has spoken about his sexuality. That’s why his portrayal of Tommy Boatwright in The Normal Heart felt even more compelling than any other role he has done, at least in my opinion.

The Normal Heart, based on the Larry Kramer 1985 play of the same name, depicts the HIV-AIDS crisis in New York City during the early eighties, and Parsons plays a gay activist fighting to address the issue. Parsons is a talented actor, so it’s no surprise that he absolutely rocked this role. The film gives interesting insights into what happened back in the eighties and the struggles that activists had to face every single day.

Everything Everywhere All At Once – Stephanie Hsu As Joy Wang

I think out of all the movies that released in 2022, Everything Everywhere All At Once was the one that touched fans’ hearts the most, even if some of it was just straight-up weird. However, the film tells a beautiful story of love, family, and acceptance of one's faults, mainly led by two fantastic performances from both Michelle Yeoh and Stephanie Hsu.

Hsu portrayed Joy Wang, the daughter of Evelyn Quan Wang and one of the primary characters of the movie. Joy has a girlfriend in the movie, but Hsu also identifies as queer in real-life, according to The Eagle Online.

Harlem – Jerrie Johnson as Tye Reynolds

Harlem is a great TV show, one I would recommend to anyone, and a great character in it is Tye Reynolds, whose stories in the show are always some of the best. Reynolds is a hilarious character, but the actor behind the screen is even better.

Jerrie Johnson is a part of the LGBTQ+ community and got engaged to their girlfriend, and their wedding dresses were even featured in the New York Times (via Instagram) in April 2025!

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt - Tituss Burgess As Titus Andromedon 

Few have truly made me laugh out loud as Titus Andromedon on the classic Netflix series, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. This show, which primarily followed a young woman learning to adapt to normal every-day life after spending more than a decade locked below ground by a reverend, has always brought the laughs and provided some hilarious inside jokes, usually because of Titus Andromedon. He’s sassy, talented, and the best gay friend that we all need in our lives that will be blunt with you no matter what.

Tituss Burgess has been active in television for some time, including guest spots on 30 Rock, performing in musicals like Annie, and more, but nothing has quite come close to the hilarious nature of Titus Andromedon and the impact he made on television as a whole. Truly, there is no one like him.

I Saw The TV Glow – Justice Smith As Owen

I Saw The TV Glow released in 2024 by A24, and while it certainly wasn’t a huge hit at the box office, it’s slowly picking up steam on the internet, mainly due to Justice Smith’s amazing role of Owen. The film tells the story of two friends whose lives begin to spiral when their favorite show is cancelled – because honestly, same.

Jokes aside, Smith’s performance of Owen is gutting and cuts straight to the core, without spoiling anything, and if you want an excellent psychological horror-drama, this is the film for you. Justice Smith came out in 2020 as a queer person, and ever since then he’s advocated for the support of Black queer and trans lives.

Portrait Of A Lady On Fire - Adele Haenel As Heloise

Released in 2019, Portrait of a Lady on Fire follows Adele Haenel portrayed Heloise, a young 19th-century lesbian who fiercely opposes the arranged marriage set up for her, but later has a romance with a woman who was commissioned to paint her wedding portrait.

Adele Haenel publicly came out back in 2014 when she won a Cesar Award, and has since been very open about who she is. The film portrays what it’s like to have that kind of romance that changes you for the rest of your life, and that it doesn’t matter what gender that you are – love is love, and when you meet that one person that can change you, it sticks with you until the end.

Bodies, Bodies, Bodies – Amandla Stenberg As Sophie

Hands down, Bodies, Bodies, Bodies is one of the best horror movies from A24, and tells a hilariously horrific story of a group of young adults who are staying in a mansion and play a murder-game that actually turns real, and soon it’s a whodunit as they try and stay alive. Amandla Stenberg plays Sophie, the main character, and while her queerness isn’t the main plotline of the film, it certainly plays an important role.

In 2016, Amandla Stenberg came out as bisexual, but she also said that “pansexual” was a good term to describe her as well, according to Elle. The actress has appeared in a variety of roles since then, but personally, I don’t think any of them have come as close as the craziness that is Bodies, Bodies, Bodies.

Looking - Jonathan Groff As Patrick Murray

Jonathon Groff has an impressive resume for plenty of people to admire. From voicing Kristoff as part of the Frozen and Frozen II cast to portraying the king in Hamilton, he’s been around the block plenty of times, showing off his amazing acting and singing skills. But one show that you may or may not remember him from was in the HBO series Looking, where he portrayed Patrick Murray.

The series follows the story of three gay men living in San Francisco, and their lives and friendships. The series went on for two seasons, which were followed by a feature-length film in 2016. Looking may have only lasted for a short amount of time, but its impact on television is felt all the same. In an interview with the New York Times, Groff talked about the significance of the show. When asked how he'd feel if he were able to watch the show as a teenager, he said:

Bottoms – Ayo Edebiri As Josie 

Bottoms was the queer comedy of 2023 in my eyes. The movie tells the story of two teenagers in high school who start a female-only fight club in order to have sex with cheerleaders. Yes, this sounds exactly like a 2000s teen comedy and yes, it’s just as funny as you can expect it to be, especially with two leads like Rachel Sennott and Ayo Edebiri as part of the Bottoms cast.

While Ayo Edibiri’s best roles include plenty of other shows and movies, like The Bear or Big Mouth, I freaking love her in Bottoms as Josie because she perfectly exemplifies what it’s like to be a young LGBTQ+ person in high school who is just trying to survive and be somehow cool. Even Ayo Edebiri said in an interview with Refinery 29 in September 2023 that it’s “radical” she gets to be a young Black queer person and do the crazy stuff she’s done in a movie in Hollywood nowadays.

Glee - Chris Colfer As Kurt Hummel

Glee, when it released, was an iconic show, becoming a huge hit for Fox. The series was all about misfits coming together in a high school glee club in order to find companionship when it felt there was no one there for them, and one of those characters that stuck around from the very first season was Kurt Hummel, a closeted gay student (at first) at William McKinley High School.

Chris Colfer played the character, and over time, Kurt became more sure of himself not only as a gay man but as a voice for his community, and showing that just because someone might not like your sparkle, that doesn’t mean you need to dim it for anyone else. His voice was always unique and made for some amazing covers. The Glee cast was so talented in so many ways, but Colfer stood out amongst the rest.

The Last Of Us – Bella Ramsey As Ellie

As someone who grew up playing The Last of Us, Ellie was a bit of a gay icon for me. She was a lead character (in a HUGE video game) that was openly lesbian and as someone who was struggling with her own bisexuality at the time, it was freaking fantastic to see the representation on screen. That’s why when I discovered that the young person also playing Ellie, Bella Ramsey, was non-binary in real-life, I knew it would be a perfect fit.

I just knew they would understand how Ellie was portrayed, and my favorite video game character suddenly turned into my favorite TV character. Ramsey is known for their portrayal of Lyanna Mormont as well as in the Game of Thrones cast, but her role in The Last of Us Season 2 has been a game-changer.

Hearts Beat Loud - Kiersey Clemons As Sam Fisher

Kiersey Clemons has had some awesome roles in the past, from her breakout role as a teen lesbian in the 2015 comedy-drama Dope to her role in Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, or even her more recent role in Zack Snyder’s Justice League. However, one of her best roles from the films I have seen has to be Hearts Beat Loud, the musical comedy, where she stars as Sam Fisher.

Hearts Beat Loud is all about Sam Fisher and her father, played by Nick Offerman, who is a record store owner and tries to convince her to start a band with him after a song they recorded went viral. The story not only has some great music but captures what it’s like as a young gay teenager to try and develop a true relationship with their family when some of them don’t quite understand what you’re going through. It’s definitely one of the underrated picks on this list and deserves so much more praise.

Jennifer’s Body - Megan Fox As Jennifer

In Jennifer’s Body, the titular character, characterized as bisexual, is possessed by a demon, who goes on a rampage in school to fill its need for human flesh, whether that be boys or girls.

Megan Fox herself is bisexual, telling Esquire back in 2011 about her thoughts about her sexuality.

After seeing her star in several films for her beauty and talent as an actress, it’s empowering to hear Megan Fox speak so openly about who she is, and even more interesting to rewatch her portrayal of Jennifer years later. It’s awesome to see sexuality portrayed in something like a horror movie, but I’m here for it regardless.

Happiest Season - Kristen Stewart As Abby Holland

2020 was a year of few big film releases, with so many dates changing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many viewers turned to streaming for their entertainment and Happiest Season was one of them, telling the story of a woman who is struggling to come out to her conservative family when she brings her girlfriend home for the holidays.

Kristen Stewart takes on the lead role as Abby Holland in the Happiest Season cast, the girlfriend of Harper, who comes home with her during the holidays. Kristen Stewart herself has come out as queer, and discussed in an interview with InStyle, how her journey of coming out helped her portray the character in the film. When asked if it was her own experiences that drew her to the role, she discussed the challenges of dating and fame during her early twenties, and being asked about her sexuality, stating:

When an actor goes through something so personal, it’s not a surprise that the character comes off so organically real, and that was the case with Happiest Season. Not only is it a great Christmas film, but it’s certainly a great portrayal of what coming out to a conservative family can be like.

Clean Slate – Laverne Cox as Desiree

While Laverne Cox has been in the business for a while, there are so many amazing roles we could point to that I knew I wanted to focus on a new one of hers. While everyone knows her as Sophia from Orange is the New Black, I wanted to focus on Desiree, a trans woman from Clean Slate who wishes to rebuild her relationship with her father.

Cox has identified as transgender for many years and is actively a part of the LGBTQ+ community. The show, which is on Amazon Prime, actively dives into modern-day complexities within the American family of learning to adjust to life changes and how people live their lives while also dealing with the topic of rights within the LGBTQ+ community – all while telling jokes that make you chuckle throughout it. Cox is a star, as always.

Schitt's Creek - Dan Levy As David Rose

Of course I had to put Schitt’s Creek on here. Schitt's Creek ended up becoming extremely popular in 2020, even going on to sweep the comedic awards at the 2020 Primetime Emmys for its final season. One of the stars of the show - as well as one of the creators - was Dan Levy, who played David Rose, the pansexual son of Moira and Johnny. And in my opinion, David Rose was one of the funniest characters that Schitt's Creek had, and I am going to miss him terribly now that the show is over.

Dan Levy, who is gay, did an interview with Entertainment Weekly in 2022 about David's pansexuality, and how it affected Schitt's Creek as a whole.

All representation starts somewhere, and I believe that David Rose was the perfect step in the right direction. Besides, who else would have been able to pull off that character other than Dan Levy? And if you had another option, I'm very uninterested in that opinion.

I can’t wait to see who from this list appears in our 2025 movie schedule or what they might be doing next in the 2025 TV schedule. I’m champing at the bit for any new projects they might have coming – but maybe I could just rewatch some of these and enjoy the ride all over again.

The Flash’s road to production has hit multiple obstacles since the DCEU redirected its film slate. Originally the solo film was slated to drop in 2018, but the underperformance of Justice League caused those plans to shift. After a long wait, the DC film finally started shooting in 2021, and production just wrapped in October. Like the fans, The Flash’s stars didn’t deal with the delays well, with Kiersey Clemons recently revealing why filming the superhero movie was “weird.”

The pandemic and multiple changes led to the DCEU film being postponed multiple times. After the delays, Kiersey Clemons had to sit with Iris West for years before hitting the set. While she was appreciative of the film, Clemons was thrown off when production finally started. The Flash star revealed to Discussing Film how she felt working on the much-delayed DC flick:

Waiting for so long allowed the actress to grow with her character. But being on hold for a long time can shift perspective and ideas, as Kiersey Clemons alluded to. Most actors would’ve left the production at some point, but The Flash actress decided to stick with the role. Of course, fans let their feelings be known about the delays. Understanding how viewers felt changed Clemons’ approach to the film and her character. In her words:

Kiersey Clemons heard the fans and poured her all into giving them the best Iris West. But fans and Clemons can be thankful for director Andy Muschietti coming on board and seeing the film to the finish line. Before Muschietti was attached, The Flash was in development hell for years with names like Seth Grahame-Smith and duo Phil Lord and Christopher Miller attached at certain points. They ended up leaving the superhero flick over creative differences with Warner Bros. Ezra Miller’s busy Hollywood career didn’t help matters either. But now The Flash is in the can and will arrive in theaters on November 4, 2022.

With Grant Gustin’s version of Barry Allen, a.k.a. The Flash, having just concluded his run as the famous DC Comics character on The CW, it is now Ezra Miller’s time to shine in the DC Extended Universe. Following cameos in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad, Miller’s Flash made his full debut in Justice League (whichever cut you prefer), and now the time has come for the Scarlet Speedster to grab the cinematic spotlight for himself. By the time The Flash is released, it will have been over five and a half decades since Barry Allen first appeared in the comics, and over 80 years since the first Flash, Jay Garrick, hit the scene.

Influenced by the Flashpoint storyline, The Flash follows Barry Allen using time travel to try and prevent his mother’s murder, which consequently causes all sorts of multiversal problems, bringing back some of most iconic heroes and villains in the process. Here are those familiar, and new faces, that make up The Flash cast.

Ezra Miller (Barry Allen/The Flash)

The first time we saw Ezra Miller as The Flash was actually a future version of the character, who delivered a cryptic warning to Bruce Wayne after seeing the Knightmare. Not too long after in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Bruce saw security footage of the present-day Barry using his super speed to thwart a convenience store robbery. The character has shown up multiple times since then, including a major role in both versions of Justice League. This time around, Barry is sporting a new suit and will meet an alternate version of himself, also played by Miller. 

Throughout their career, Miller has appeared in massive film franchises like the Fantastic Beasts movies, shows like The Stand and Royal Pains, and a list of smaller movies that includes the likes of The Perks of Being a Wallflower.

Ben Affleck (Bruce Wayne/Batman)

Though he dropped out of The Batman as the movie’s director and seemingly put an end to his time as Bruce Wayne, Ben Affleck is back as one of two Bats in The Flash cast. This will be the fourth time (fifth if you count Zack Snyder’s Justice League) the Academy Award winner has donned the cape and cowl in a DC movie.

Affleck’s return as Batman is the latest in a series of recent film projects for the actor/writer/director/producer, as it comes off the release of the Air Jordan biographical drama, Air, and the sci-fi thriller Hypnotic. All of this adds more to Affleck’s decades-long career that includes multiple Oscars (Good Will Hunting, Argo), and dozens of other great accomplishments.  

Michael Keaton (Bruce Wayne/Batman) 

Our first indication that The Flash would be a wilder ride than expected was the reveal that Michael Keaton, star of 1989’s Batman and 1992’s Batman Returns, would reprise his version of Gotham City’s shadowy protector. Keaton dropped out of appearing in what would become Batman Forever because he didn’t care for the script, leading to Val Kilmer taking over the role. So naturally it was assumed we’d never see his Batman again, but as a result of the changes in reality unfolding in The Flash, Ezra Miller’s Barry Allen will cross paths with Keaton’s Caped Crusader.

Since last suiting up as Batman more than 30 years ago, Keaton has found a great deal of success in movies like Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), Spotlight, and a return to the comic book movie genre with an unforgettable portrayal of Adrian Toomes, aka, Vulture, in Sony’s Spider-Man movies. And Batman isn’t the only iconic character Keaton will be revisiting, as he is set to reprise his titular role in Tim Burton’s Beetlejuice 2. 

Kiersey Clemons (Iris West)

Kiersey Clemons’ Iris West was one of the many characters whose scenes were reinserted for Zack Snyder’s Justice League. Barry Allen used his super speed to save the Picture News reporter from a traffic accident, but he quickly raced away before she could say anything to him. 

Clemons’ return to the world of DC Comics is the latest in a series of notable roles for the young actress, as she has popped up on shows like Angie Tribeca, Easy, Transparent, and Fairfax in recent years. All of this is on top of movies like Am I OK?, Antebellum, and most recently, Somebody I Used To Know. 

Sasha Calle (Kara Zor-El/Supergirl)

Along with Michael Keaton’s Batman, the only other superhero from another reality who’s confirmed for The Flash is Supergirl, who is played by The Young and the Restless actress Sasha Calle. Having a similar costume and superpowers as Henry Cavill’s Superman, Supergirl will prove to be a major ally for Barry Allen’s Flash, one that could turn the tide.

Though we don’t yet know if this will be the start of something new for Calle’s Supergirl, the actress did tell Entertainment Weekly in June 2023 that she’d be down to return for the new Supergirl movie.

Maribel Verdú (Nora Allen) 

For decades, Nora Allen was a minor character within the Flash mythology, but that changed in 2008’s The Flash: Rebirth, when it was revealed that Eobard Thawne, a.k.a. Reverse-Flash/Professor Zoom, traveled back in time and murdered Nora when Barry Allen was a boy as revenge for his arch-nemesis having thwarted him on so many occasions. Adding insult to injury, Eobard framed Barry’s father Henry for the murder (more on him in a bit). As laid out in Justice League, Barry’s mother is also dead in DCEU continuity, with Pan’s Labyrinth actress Maribel Verdú appearing as Nora in The Flash. 

Throughout her career, the actress has also appeared in movies like Y tu mamá también, The Blind Sunflowers, and Raymond & Ray.

Ron Livingston (Henry Allen)

We spent a little bit of time with Henry Allen in Justice League, where he was played by Billy Crudup, who previously worked with Zack Snyder on Watchmen. Variety reported that because of scheduling conflicts with The Morning Show, Crudup was unable to return for The Flash, so now Office Space actor Ron Livingston plays Henry instead. Like in Justice League, most of Livingston’s scenes as Henry will likely be from prison as he was wrongfully convicted in the murder of Nora Allen.In addition to the aforementioned Office Space, Livingston has spent his career giving great performances in movies like The Conjuring, The Man Who Killed Hitler and Then the Bigfoot, and the landmark HBO military drama miniseries, Band of Brothers, which netted him a Golden Globe nomination in 2002. 

Michael Shannon (Zod) 

Though General Zod died in the final act of 2013’s Man of Steel, Michael Shannon’s character, is back in action for The Flash. Much like the previous version of the character, Zod arrives on Earth to terraform the planet into a new Krypton, but this time he’s met by two different incarnations of Barry Allen, Batman, and Supergirl, who try to put an end to his plan.

One of the most talented actors to have never won an Oscar, Shannon has put on tremendous performances in movies like Revolutionary Road, Nocturnal Animals, and The Shape of Water over the years. He’s even found a lot of success on the small screen as well with turns on Boardwalk Empire and Waco.

Antje Traue (Faora-Ul) 

Zod isn’t the only Kryptonian returning for The Flash, as the general’s right-hand enforcer, Faora-Ul is back in the mix, again portrayed by Antje Traue.

Since his character was  sent to the Phantom Zone in the 2013 DC movie, Traue has appeared in Seventh Son,  Woman in Gold, Ballon, and varios TV shows like Dark and Tatort, to name only a few. 

Saoirse-Monica Jackson (Patty Spivot)

Saoirse-Monica Jackson, who is best known to people in the UK for playing Erin Quinn on the must-watch British sitcom Derry Girls, shows up in the new DC Comics movie as Patty Spivot, one of Barry’s co-workers in the forensics lab.

No doubt The Flash will introduce her to a lot of American moviegoers, who’ll maybe check out her work in movies like Finding You, as well as shows like Murder in the Badlands and The Five. 

Rudy Mancuso (Albert Desmond) 

Rudy Mancuso appears in The Flash as Albert Desmond, another one of Barry Allen’s co-workers.

Mancuso doesn’t have a lot of film and TV credits on his resume, but if you frequent YouTube, you might have come across his work. In addition to voicing many characters in the Awkward Puppets videos and various other comedic endeavors, Mancuso is also an accomplished musician. 

Luke Brandon Field

Finally, we have Luke Brandon Field, who appeared as Christoph in Jojo Rabbit. Field revealed his involvement in The Flash on Instagram back in September 2021, but didn’t share any details about who he’s playing. So he could be anyone from someone in Barry’s social circle to a coworker at the CCPD. We shall see.

Following years of delays and setbacks, The Flash is set to race into theaters on June 16th. While we wait for Andy Muschietti’s long-awaited superhero movie, check out our guide to the other upcoming DC Comics titles as well as our 2023 movie schedule for everything else coming your way this year.  

You may have become initially familiar with Kiersey Clemons when she was first cast as the female lead, Iris West, of the still in-development solo Flash movie, in 2016. When she was finally able to officially debut as her DC Comics character in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, you might have then wondered what other movies and TV shows you previously saw the 27-year-old actress in.

Allow to us help refresh your memory with the following 10 big screen and small screen titles which make up some of the most notable credits from Kiersey Clemons’ movies and TV shows. We will also show you how and where you can watch each of them right now. We will begin with her very first acting gig, courtesy of the Disney Channel.

Shake It Up (2010)

Long before starring in superhero movies, Kiersey Clemons made her acting debut on Shake It Up, a popular Disney Channel original series following young aspiring dancers who make it onto a Chicago-based variety show. The then 17-year-old appeared in two episodes in 2010 alongside stars Bella Thorne and Zendaya, the latter of whom would also become a comic book movie star when cast as Michelle in the Spider-Man: Homecoming and Tom Holland’s following MCU solo movies.

Stream Shake It Up on Disney+.

Dope (2015)

Future Spider-Man: Homecoming star Tony Revolori, future Miles Morales voice actor Shameik Moore (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), and future DC star Kiersey Clemons would star as the co-leads of Dope, written and directed by future The Mandalorian director Rick Famuyiwa, in 2015. The refreshing coming-of-age comedy follows a trio of geeky high school seniors on a life-changing journey of self-reinvention, self-discovery, and maybe a drug deal or two, in a tough Los Angeles neighborhood.

Rent Dope on Amazon.

Transparent (2014-2015)

One of Kiersey Clemons’ first transitions into more mature acting work was on this acclaimed Amazon Prime original, initially chronicling the transition of Jeffrey Tambor’s character into a woman named Maura and her relationship with her three self-absorbed adult children. Clemons joined the Transparent cast in the first two seasons in the recurring role of Bianca, the daughter of Tammy Crenshaw (Melora Hardin) from a previous marriage before her reunion with Maura’s daughter, Sarah (Amy Landecker).

Stream Transparent on Amazon Prime.

Hearts Beat Loud (2018)

While she never got to be on the musical final season of Transparent, Kiersey Clemons could show her musical talents in Hearts Beat Loud a year earlier. The feel-good family dramedy follows the unlikely partnership of aspiring singer Sam (Clemons) and her single, record store owner father, Frank Fisher (Nick Offerman), as songwriters and band members during her last summer before college.

Stream Hearts Beat Loud on Hulu.

Rent: Live (2019)

Kiersey Clemons’ love for theater would pay off most grandly when she was cast in this production of the inspiring Tony Award-winning musical that originally aired live on Fox (well, some of it, that is). Clemons played lesbian lawyer Joanne Jefferson in the Rent: Live cast - a role the openly queer actress told Out Magazine she had admired since her youth.

Buy Rent: Live on Amazon.

Flatliners (2017)

A few years earlier, Kiersey Clemons starred in a remake which was loosely aimed to be a sequel of an entirely different sort of story, with the concept of mortality being its heavy theme. In this modernized take on director Joel Schumacher’s 1990 cult sci-fi thriller Flatliners, Clemons plays Sophia - one of several medical students who play around with experiencing death, only to suffer strange and unexpected consequences.

Rent Flatliners on Amazon.

Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016)

A year earlier, Kiersey Clemons starred in a direct sequel to the 2014 comedy Neighbors, in which Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne played parents at odds with a college fraternity, led by Zac Efron, which moves in next door. However, in Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, the former enemies team up against Shelby (Chloë Grace Moretz), Nora (Booksmart star Beanie Feldstein), and Beth (Clemons), who are the founding members of a new sorority which has set up shop in the same house.

Rent Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising on Amazon.

Angie Tribeca (2018)

As part of the Angie Tribeca cast, Kiersey Clemons would graduate into an even goofier style of comedy on the TBS cop drama parody in the vein of The Naked Gun. She would become a series regular in Season 4 as Maria Charo - a young psychologist who speaks multiple languages “at tourist level” and joins the crime-fighting team led by Parks and Recreation star Rashida Jones’ title character.

Stream Angie Tribeca on Hulu.

Sweetheart (2019)

In one of her latest steps toward “Scream Queen” status, Kiersey Clemons plays a young woman who washes ashore onto a desert island and soon learns she is entirely alone in Sweetheart - an acclaimed, Blumhouse-produced, Netflix original thriller. Not only is this hidden gem a career highlight as one of her first leading roles, but it also marks the beginning of her romance with Ebony De La Haye - her stunt double in the movie.

Stream Sweetheart on Netflix.

Antebellum (2020)

Her next major foray into horror would also mark the first leading role of another musically talented actress, Janelle Monáe. She and Kiersey Clemons star in Antebellum as modern day women brutally thrust into a slave trade situation who conspire to rebel against the abductors who put them there.

Stream Antebellum on Hulu.

As we still have a good while before The Flash movie is released, it is nice that we at least got to see Kiersey Clemons as Iris West in the Snyder Cut, and still have plenty of other things to watch her in right now. She has quickly become one of Hollywood’s boldest and most exciting talents and she is still just getting started. Outside of Zack Snyder's Justice League, is there a role of Clemons' that you consider to be a personal favorite?

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For a movie centered on DC Comics’ Fastest Man Alive, it’s remarkable how long The Flash’s development has been due to various setbacks and delays. However, with IT’s Andy Muschietti now sitting in the director’s chair, Ezra Miller’s version of The Scarlet Speedster is closer than ever to starring in his own feature film, which has been assembling its cast over the last year. The latest word on the casting front is that Kiersey Clemons, who debuts as Iris West, Barry Allen’s love interest, in Zack Snyder’s Justice League, will reprise her role for The Flash.

If this feels like deja vu, you’re absolutely correct. Kiersey Clemons was first announced to be playing Iris West in The Flash back in July 2016, back when Justice League was almost a year and a half away from release and The Flash was scheduled to arrive in spring 2018. But the direction of the DCEU has changed a lot since then, and even though we’re finally seeing the scenes Clemons shot for Justice League starting next week, it was unclear if she would return for The Flash.

Well, according to THR, Kiersey Clemons has closed a deal to star in the movie, as opposed to the production finding a new actress to play Iris. This makes her the third actress to play Iris West in live-action, with Paula Marshall having played the character in the two-hour pilot for the 1990 Flash TV series, and Candice Patton having starred as Iris on The CW’s The Flash since it premiered in 2014. Iris has also appeared in the animated series Young Justice, and the animated movies Justice League: The New Frontier and Justice League: The Flashpoint Paradox.

Kiersey Clemons took part in Justice League’s principal photography back in 2016, but in the following year, shortly before Zack Snyder left the blockbuster and Joss Whedon came aboard to helm the extensive reshoots, Iris West was removed from Snyder's cut of the movie. With the four-hour Snyder Cut heading to HBO Max (which you can sign up for with this link), we’ll finally see how she fits into Snyder’s definitive Justice League vision alongside other characters who were absent from the theatrical cut of Justice League, including Vulko, Ryan Choi and Darkseid. Outside of the DCEU, Clemons’ notable credits include Dope, Hearts Beat Loud, Scoob!, Transparent and Angie Tribeca.

Along with Ezra Miller and Kiersey Clemons, The Flash is also bringing back Billy Crudup, who appeared in Justice League as Henry Allen, Barry Allen’s imprisoned father. The movie’s cast also includes Michael Keaton and Ben Affleck, who are reprising their respective versions of Batman. No specific plot details for The Flash have been disclosed to the public yet, but it will include elements of the Flashpoint storyline. In addition to Andy Muschietti, The Flash’s behind-the-cameras talent includes Birds of Prey’s Christina Hodson writing the screenplay, Barbara Muschietti and Michael Disco producing, and Marianne Jenkins serving as an executive producer.

The Flash is slated to begin shooting in London in April, and assuming there aren’t any more delays, it will race into theaters on November 4, 2022. While we wait for more casting news, keep track of other forthcoming DC movies with our comprehensive guide.

The Snyder Cut only continues to keep DC fans brimming with anticipation as new gripping revelations have come to light. In addition to the expected sight of Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman, Aquaman, Cyborg, and The Flash, other characters who were previously excluded from the 2017 theatrical release of Justice League will be involved in director Zack Snyder’s new official cut.

This is not just counting the baddies whose roles in the film are expanding from one brief fight scene (such as the God of War Ares, originally played by David Thewlis) or a post-credits sequence (Jesse Eisenberg’s Lex Luthor and Joe Manganiello as Slade “Deathstroke” Wilson). Several fan favorite DC characters, mostly through reshoots, will be added into the new four-hour cut, which will be presented in four separate chapters when it drops exclusively on HBO Max in 2021. Some of these characters will be a reprise from a previous DCEU installment, while others will be making their live action debut - or, at least, their official debut into the franchise.

I have the utmost respect for the kind of fan who would rather go into this new edition of Justice League with a freshly clean slate and discover the newly added characters as they appear on screen at the first viewing. However, not only is that sort of feat nearly impossible these days, but such a comic book movie rarely exists. So, for those who cannot keep a lid on their anticipation (and understandably so), the following is a comprehensive list of the characters you should expect to show up in the Snyder Cut - starting with one I never would have expected to get the last laugh after all.

The Joker (Jared Leto)

In 2016, Jared Leto performed a new take on Batman’s clownish arch nemesis in Suicide Squad that was polarizing, to say the least, with some (including Leto himself) arguing the portrayal was was not given enough screen time to judge properly. Well, it appears the Academy Award-winner (who has also joined the Sony Marvel family as the titular living vampire in Morbius) will be given a fair shot in when he reprises The Joker for Zack Snyder’s Justice League - a completely new idea for the upcoming recut that could mean we will finally see Batfleck interact with his universe’s Clown Prince of Crime.

Darkseid (Ray Porter)

While Jared Leto’s Joker is getting a second chance in the Snyder Cut, getting his first chance is Darkseid - a New God and Apokolips’ tyrannical leader, created by Jack Kirby in 1970, hellbent on conquering the universe by suppressing all hope and free will. Actor Ray Porter (who recently played multiple roles in an audio play adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman) will star as the iconic DC villain in a motion capture performance for Zack Snyder’s Justice League, technically marking the character’s live action feature film debut.

Desaad (Peter Guinness)

Even the most power-hungry, ego-centric tyrants need a right-hand man, and that is what Desaad has been to Darkseid since he manipulated him to his level as a child, turning him into the deceptive, sadistic torture specialist he is known as today. Veteran English actor Peter Guinness will also be using motion capture to portray the villain, who looks a lot more more monstrous from his brief glimpse in the Snyder Cut trailer than the comics had depicted him.

Nuidis Vulko (Willem Dafoe)

Looking comparatively more human (or just skinnier, really) than his illustrated counterpart is Arthur Curry’s (Jason Momoa) mentor Nuidis Vulko brought to life by Willem Dafoe in the 2018 blockbuster hit Aquaman. The Academy Award nominee - no stranger to comic book movies from playing Green Goblin in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man trilogy - shot scenes that were deleted from the theatrical release of Justice League, but will be reworked into the Snyder Cut, which is the extent of all we currently know about Vulko’s role in the film.

The Atom (Ryan Zheng)

There was also footage of Chinese actor and The Great Wall star Ryan Zheng as Ryan Choi (Ray Palmer’s successor of the Atom moniker) that ended up on the cutting room, rendering his involvement in Justice League to a blink-and-miss-it Easter Egg. Fortunately, Zheng’s scenes will be revived in the Snyder Cut, giving this lesser-known iteration of shrinking DC hero his live action feature debut after Osric Chau appeared as him in the Arrowverse’s “Crisis on Infinite Earths” crossover event.

Elinore Stone (Karen Bryson)

Perhaps one of the more frustrating character removals from the theatrical release is Elinore, the mother of Victor Stone (Ray Fisher) - who was intended to play a brief, yet pivotal, role in her son’s arc, having passed in the car accident that led his father, Silas (Joe Morton), to rebuild him as Cyborg. Yet, the sight of English actress Karen Bryson as Elinore Stone cheering for her son at a high school football game in the trailer for Zack Snyder’s Justice League assured us that she will be worked into the new cut, hinting at a proper portrayal of Victor’s story this time.

Iris West (Kiersey Clemons)

The 2017 theatrical release also did not provide the full extent of Barry Allen’s (Ezra Miller) intended story, leaving out any mention of Iris West - his love interest whom Kiersey Clemons was cast to play in 2016 for The Flash solo movie. It was revealed soon after that she filmed a cameo for Justice League, which also never saw the light of day until it resurfaced in the Snyder Cut promo footage, meaning audiences will bear witness to the Antebellum star’s long-awaited DC moment come 2021.

Martian Manhunter (Harry Lennix)

Speaking of long-awaited moments, fans have anticipated the live action motion picture debut of J'onn J'onzz (better known as Martian Manhunter) hotly enough to suggest a theory that Calvin Swanwick (played by Harry Lennix in Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) is really the shapeshifting alien cop in disguise. Well, apparently, that was the original plan all along and will officially come to fruition in Zack Snyder’s Justice League when the former Matrix sequels actor reprises the DCEU role for the ultimate reveal.

What do you think? Are you excited by the upcoming sight of Calvin Stanwick as the real Martian Manhunter, or is there another character whom you would be more intrigued see in Zack Snyder’s Justice League? To find out if that dream may eventually come true, be sure to check back for additional information and updates on the Snyder Cut, as well as even more insight into what is going on in the world of comic book adaptations, here on CinemaBlend.

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The DC Extended Universe has been on a roll over the past few years, with Warner Bros. releasing a slew of critically acclaimed blockbusters. But the first few installments in the DCEU were shaky, including the theatrical cut of Justice League. That infamous blockbuster was changed greatly once Zack Snyder departed, with Joss Whedon stepping in for extensive reshoots and the goal of getting Justice League out in theaters on time. Cyborg actor Ray Fisher has made accusations of abusive behavior against Whedon, and now another member of the cast has put their support behind the actor.

A few months ago Ray Fisher alleged that Joss Whedon's behavior on the set of Justice League was "gross" and "abusive." While he's unable to expand on said allegations for legal reasons, his co-star Jason Momoa recently expressed his support of Fisher. And now another member of the cast has posted, Kiersey Clemons. Her previously cut role as Iris West will finally be seen thanks to the upcoming Snyder Cut, though a source close to the film confirmed to CinemaBlend that Clemons' presence in the film "was cut before Joss became involved," and that Joss "never met nor worked with Clemons." Regardless, Clemons took to social media to help spread Ray Fisher's message with the following post.

Short and to the point, it's clear that Kiersey Clemons has Ray Fisher's back in his ongoing battle with Warner Bros. over Justice League. While the two stars likely never worked together in the movie, she's still putting her support behind her fellow actor and colleague. We'll just have to wait and see how the drama all shakes out in the future.

Kiersey Clemons shared her message of support toward Ray Fisher over on her personal Instagram page. With it came a shot of Clemons playing Iris West in Justice League, from a sequence that was ultimately dropped from the theatrical cut. We'll finally get to see her character in the Snyder Cut on HBO Max, which will also feature much more of Fisher's character Cyborg. Now Clemons is also the latest Justice League star to get behind the 33 year-old actor's fight against the WB and Joss Whedon in particular.

The Snyder Cut will be available exclusively on HBO Max next year. You can use this link to sign up for the streaming service.

Joss Whedon stepped in to complete Justice League after filmmaker Zack Snyder departed the project due to a family tragedy. The studio reportedly pushed for a more comedic take on the project, and extensive reshoots greatly altered the original director's vision fro the project. And in addition to cutting characters and plot points, Ray Fisher alleges that Joss Whedon's behavior on set was toxic.

The details or Ray Fisher's allegations are overall a mystery, with the actor making it clear that he's unable to share more information for legal reasons. But the Justice League actor occasionally uses social media to give cryptic updates about his ongoing battle with the studio. And in the meantime, the Snyder Cut is closer to release every day.

While the theatrical release of Justice League mostly kept Cyborg to the sidelines, Zack Snyder and Ray Fisher have both teased how integral the hero was to the original story. As such, the Snyder Cut will likely change what audiences think of Cyborg. As for Fisher himself, he'll be dealing with own set of twist and turns IRL as the ongoing situation regarding Joss Whedon shakes out.

The Snyder Cut is expected to arrive in four one-hour installments over on HBO Max in 2021. In the meantime check out our 2021 release list to plan your trips to the movies next year.

Earlier this month, Birds of Prey hit the big screen without a notable founding member among the lineup: Barbara Gordon. But, there’s a good reason why. A Batgirl solo film is reported to be in the works over at Warner Bros with the Birds of Prey screenwriter Christina Hodson on board. And since the world of Gotham is about to become a broader place with Matt Reeves’ The Batman, there’s no reason why Batgirl couldn’t show up sooner rather than later. Naturally, it’s time for us to put our best casting picks in the ring.

Barbara Gordon was first introduced on the pages of the DC Comics back in 1961 and has remained a staple superhero in the universe ever since. When she debuted in Batman #139, Batgirl was a college graduate in her late twenties. But, there’s also her Birds of Prey identity “Oracle”, who follows a more seasoned Barbara who is wheelchair ridden. Nowadays, she is most well-known for being around 21 and our best guess is Warner Bros might want to inject some youth into their franchise with its Batgirl movie.

The movie has been in development for a few years previously with Joss Whedon attached before the story “just crumbled” in his hands, per his own words. Sure, it’s certainly been a hot minute since we’ve received a confident update about Batgirl, but since other films such as The Flash and Black Adam are starting to find their footing, it feels as if it’s only a matter of time until it’s time for Barbara Gordon’s first solo movie. So let’s get into it. Who should play her?

Kaitlyn Dever

Ever since word of a movie about Barbara Gordon was announced, fans have been throwing out ideas left and right. The most recent actress to be at the center of Batgirl casting is Booksmart’s Kaitlyn Dever. The 23-year-old actress was rumored to be joining the DCEU after she was caught interacting with The Batman writers Matt Reeves and Mattson Tomlin. And actually, she’s a great fit! Here’s what Dever said when asked at the Oscars:

Dever’s actually an inspired choice for Barbara Gordon too. She’s shown her range between working in comedy on Last Man Standing and an emotional drama with Netflix’s Unbelievable. Plus, the resemblance is uncanny!

Margaret Qualley

Another young rising star who DC should consider for Barbara Gordon is Once Upon a Time in Hollywood’s Margaret Qualley. The 25-year-old just lit up the screen as Pussycat in Quentin Tarantino’s Oscar-nominated flick, among the likes of Brad Pitt. The actress had a playful quality in Hollywood as she placed her feet on Cliff Booth’s dashboard that she could bring to Barbara Gordon.

Margaret Qualley is just starting out in the business but oftentimes that’s just what filmmakers are looking for when casting young heroes. (Think Spider-Man’s Tom Holland!) Apart from Hollywood, she’s been in The Leftovers, Netflix’s Death Note and Seberg with Kristen Stewart.

Zoey Deutch

Zoey Deutch has been a shining beacon of spunk among Hollywood’s young stars and she’d kill it as Batgirl too! Besides often being known for rocking the red locks of the comic book character, she’s also proved herself to be an impressive actress packed with personality.

Deutch just had an incredible couple years since she starred in Netflix’s famed rom-com Set It Up, comedy television series The Politician and stole the show in the long-awaited Zombieland sequel, Double Tap. She’s also found roles in Why Him?, Before I Fall and The Disaster Artist. It’s about time for her to really enter the spotlight.

Sadie Sink

Now if Warner Bros wants to go with a more realistically high-school age Barbara Gordon for Batgirl, what about Stranger Things’ Sadie Sink? The 17-year-old actress was a highlight of the Netflix’s series Season 2 and 3 as Max Mayfield, and she has a bright future ahead of her. Sink brought a mix of heart and fun to the talented cast.

With the release of Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman, Warner Bros already brought audiences quite a few female leads in their ‘20s to ‘30s and the franchise may be hoping to mix things up with a younger star as Barbara Gordon. Sink is a great pick for this and she’s got the classic look.

Anya Taylor-Joy

At the happy-medium age of 23 is Anya Taylor-Joy, who has been finding herself with quite a few leading roles as of late. The actress broke out into the scene back in 2015 with Robert Eggers’ The Witch and has since starred as Casey Cooke in M. Night Shyamalan’s Split and Glass. Taylor-Joy will soon play Magik in The New Mutants and in period piece, Emma.

The actress is already an exciting Hollywood rising star who has transformed herself into each role of hers. She has brought a noticed emotional depth to her roles and a particularly badassery to them as well.

Karen Gillan

Now for an actress who has actually put herself in the ring already – Karen Gillan! She’s already well-known for playing Nebula in four movies in the MCU so far and Ruby Roundhouse in two Jumanji flicks, but why not add another awesome role to her action resume?

When she was promoting Jumanji: The Next Level, Gillan shared her love for Batgirl, even raising her hand to star and direct the film as well! Her Batgirl would follow a more classic, older Barbara Gordon but she has proved her chops in the genre for sure.

Alison Brie

Another pick for a more “seasoned” Batgirl (Batwoman if you will) is Glow’s Alison Brie. Many of us were introduced to this actress through Community or Mad Men, but she’s since become an accomplished Hollywood star. She’s best known for starring as the empowering female wrestler in Netflix’s GLOW and she’s also been in The Lego Movie 1 & 2, How To Be Single and Horse Girl.

Alison Brie would be a great Barbara Gordon because she brings a uniqueness to each of her roles. She can be really earnest and strong at the same time. She has a track record for being Incredibly funny and delving into the dramatic. She’s the kind of actor we’ve been waiting for her to find a BIG big screen part.

Kiersey Clemons

In recent years, big comic book roles have been given colorblind casting in order to push forward Hollywood’s diversity kick. Even though Batgirl is famously red-haired and blue-eyed, it doesn’t mean she needs to be. Just look at how popular Zendaya is as the MCU’s MJ. Not to mention the fact that The Batman has cast its first black actor as James Gordon, aka Batgirl’s father.

Now, Barbara Gordon has leaned in between being the biological and adopted daughter of Gotham’s commissioner throughout the years. But either way, Kiersey Clemons would be a great choice for the part. The 25-year-old actress starred in Dope, Heart Beats Loud and Disney’s live-action Lady and the Tramp.

Yara Shahidi

Another actress of color who’d kill it as Barbara Gordon is Yara Shahidi. The 20-year-old has already had a really impressive career for her age and is a recognizable name among the young crowd. Shahidi most notably starred as Zoey Johnson in ABC’s family comedy, Black-ish and has since had a spinoff in Grown-ish for three seasons.

Shahidi was also in The Sun Is Also a Star and a voice in Smallfoot. She’s a great pick for Barbara Gordon because she knows how to play characters who are as likable as they are incredibly strong.

Thomasin McKenzie

A new name we might see more of real soon is Thomasin McKenzie. If you’ve seen Jojo Rabbit, you’ve seen this 19-year-old dazzle on screen. In the Taika Waititi Oscar-winning film she plays Elsa, the Jew hiding in young Jojo’s closet. The actress was in Netflix’s The King with Timothee Chalamet and will be in Edgar Wright’s next movie, Last Night In Soho.

Just the directors who have hired McKenzie feels like proof of talent enough, but she’s also showed off a unique ability to bring a special spark to her roles. She could definitely suit up as Barbara Gordon and fill those shoes well.

Sophia Lillis

Lastly, let’s go to just one of IT’s breakout stars, Sophia Lillis. The 18-year-old flawlessly played Beverly Marsh in Andy Muschietti remake and again in Chapter Two. The young actress was the heart of the coming-of-age horror flick and she brought a grittiness to Beverly as well. Could she be the next Batgirl?

Once again, Sophia Lillis is certainly the physical type to play Batgirl and could be a great choice for the role. She’s a rising star and if a potential series centering on Barbara Gordon is going for a younger actress, she is a really talented actress who could fill the comic book character’s shoes.

What do you think? Could you see any of the above actresses playing Batgirl? Vote in our poll and sound off in the comments below.

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If you've been paying any attention to television in the past several years, you'll know that live TV musicals have now become an expected yearly event. NBC started the modern trend with The Sound of Music Live!, which aired in December 2013, and while that network has continued to lead the way, Fox got in on the act when it launched Grease Live! in January of 2016. Now, the network is at it again. Fox announced it's live version of the iconic, hit musical Rent over a year ago, but now the main cast has finally been set.

And, the actors who will be taking on these roles have a lot to live up to. The Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winning rock musical, which was written and composed by the late Jonathan Larson, is a modern re-imagining of the classic Puccini opera, La Bohème. Rent's story follows "seven artists struggling to follow their dreams during a time of great social and political turmoil" while living in New York City's East Village under the shadow of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, while offering "an inspiring message of hope and friendship."

The musical, which has had many productions around the world since it first debuted Off Broadway in 1996, had many members of its first Broadway cast go on to become well-known for other Broadway performances, and their work in TV and movies. That cast included Taye Diggs, Jesse L. Martin, Idina Menzel and Anthony Rapp. A film version was also done in 2005, with many of the original Broadway cast reprising their roles. So, without further ado, let's see who'll be filling these memorable roles for Rent Live when it airs on January 27, 2019!

Kiersey Clemons - Joanne Jefferson

In the role of the Ivy League-educated public interest lawyer with a set of very politically powerful parents, Joanne Jefferson, we get to see Kiersey Clemons flex her musical muscles on the live stage. The actress might not be a household name just yet, but she's already made waves in a series of high-profile independent films. Clemons got her start on the TV show Shake It Up in 2010, and went on to critically acclaimed performances in films like Dope (2015) and this year's musically inclined dramedy Hearts Beat Loud with Nick Offerman. Clemons is on board to play Iris West in the upcoming Flash movie for the DCEU, and has four other projects in various stages of production right now.

Brandon Victor Dixon - Tom Collins

Rent Live has found its anarchist professor inflicted with AIDS. Brandon Victor Dixon will take on the part of Tom Collins, the the computer scientist who returns to New York after being expelled from MIT. If Dixon looks familiar to you, that might be because he was recently seen as Judas in NBC's Jesus Christ Superstar Live earlier in 2018, a role that won him an Emmy nomination. While he can also be seen right now on the Starz drama, Power, Dixon is best known for his work in many Broadway productions. He's starred in Hamilton, Shuffle Along, Motown the Musical and The Color Purple, leading him to two Tony nominations and a Grammy nomination. And, Dixon has also starred Off Broadway in Rent before, so there's no doubt that he knows his stuff.

Jordan Fisher - Mark Cohen

For two of the main roles in Rent Live, Fox has pulled from the cast their first live musical hit, Grease Live! The first of those actors is Jordan Fisher, who will take on the role of Mark Cohen. Mark is a struggling documentary filmmaker who serves as the narrator of the show, as he films the lives of his friends and neighbors. Fisher got his TV start on The Hustler in 2009, but he's also appeared in The Secret Life of the American Teenager, Teen Beach Movie and its sequel, Teen Wolf and Liv and Maddie. Fisher won Season 25 of Dancing with the Stars and can currently be seen hosting Dancing with the Stars: Juniors with Frankie Muniz.

Vanessa Hudgens - Maureen Johnson

For the other Grease Live! player lending their talents to Rent Live, we have Vanessa Hudgens as Maureen Johnson. Maureen is an outgoing and flirtatious performance artist who is Mark's ex-girlfriend and Joanne's current girlfriend, and she also has no qualms about taking on anything or anyone she sees as the establishment. Hudgens, of course, gained fame for her work in the High School Musical movies, but has also appeared in Beastly, Sucker Punch, Machete Kills, Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, Spring Breakers and last year's DC superhero adjacent sitcom, Powerless. Hudgens made her Broadway debut in 2015, when she starred in the title role of the musical Gigi.

Brennin Hunt - Roger Davis

Newcomer Brennin Hunt has landed the role of Roger Davis. Roger is a once successful (but now struggling) musician, ex-lead singer and rock guitarist who is also HIV-positive, an ex-junkie and Mark's roommate and best friend. Brennin, who competed on the American version of The X Factor in 2011, had a small role on Nashville in 2015 and is currently filming his first leading movie role in the film Walking with Herb, which will feature one of his original songs.

Mario - Benjamin "Benny" Coffin III

R&B singer Mario will be taking on the part of Benjamin Coffin III for the live musical. Benny is the current landlord of Mark, Roger and Mimi, while also being an ex-roommate of Mark, Roger and Maureen. He is now married into a very wealthy real estate family, and is seen as a yuppie sell-out by his former friends, from whom he needs to collect rent. The Grammy Award-nominated, multi-Platinum-selling singer, songwriter and producer was discovered at the age of 11 and has had several Billboard hits since his musical debut in 2002. Mario made his TV debut in 2003 on One on One, and went on to have roles in Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, the films Step Up and Freedom Writers, and was most recently seen on Fox's Empire.

Tinashe - Mimi Márquez

R&B songstress Tinashe will star in Rent Live as Mimi Márquez. Mimi is an S&M club dancer and drug addict who also lives downstairs from Mark and Roger, is Roger's love interest, and is HIV-positive just as he is. Tinashe broke into music with her double Platinum hit "2 On" in 2014, and has toured with Katy Perry, Maroon 5 and Nicki Minaj. She has also worked in television before, with her first role coming on the TV show Franklin in 1997, and other parts including work in Cora Unashamed, Call Me Claus, Out of Jimmy's Head, Two and a Half Men and, most recently, Empire.

Valentina - Angel Dumott Schunard

In the role of the young drag queen and street percussionist who embraces life with a generous disposition, drag queen Valentina has been cast in the live production. Angel also has AIDS and is Tom's love interest in the story. Valentina (also known as James Leyva) competed on RuPaul's Drag Race (where he won the fan-voted Miss Congeniality award) and RuPaul's Drag Race: Untucked, both in 2017, and will head back to strut his stuff on RuPaul's Drag Race All Stars.

DC's live-action film franchise has had an interesting run so far. Man of Steel was a backdoor pilot for the DCEU, with large ensemble projects like Suicide Squad and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice quickly filling out the ranks of the shared universe. But DC has also announced a ton of movies, with no concrete release date in sight. One of these is Ezra Miller's Flash movie, which has seen a handful of directors depart the project since its inception. It's currently unclear when the Scarlet Speedster will finally get his own flick, although actress Kiersey Clemons recently updated fans about the upcoming blockbuster's path. As the future Iris West actress explained,

Without a director attached to the project, even the most beginning stages of The Flash's development have been put on hold. And while Kiersey Clemons explained that the studio is circling a new director(s), it's clear that fans shouldn't hold their breath while the upcoming blockbuster figures itself out

News of The Flash's slow development will no doubt be frustrating for DC fans out there, especially given the character's introduction in Justice League. After a quick cameo in BvS, Ezra Miller's Barry Allen became a full fledged member of the DCEU with Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon's ensemble flick. While Justice League was ultimately a box office and critical disappointment, The Flash proved to be one of the film's strongest points-- providing a welcomed change of pace and sense of humor.

In her same conversation with Variety, Kiersey Clemons gave a more specific time frame to ponder, revealing her schedule is booked for the foreseeable future, and that hopefully the project will move forward in a more concrete way in 2019. As she tells it,

What a bummer. It looks like The Flash isn't moving with its character's speed, and DC is instead focusing on projects like Aquaman, Shazam!, and Wonder Woman 1984.

The Flash movie has had a hard time toward development, having lost a ton of directors over the past few years. This process, one that has happened twice now, has obviously slowed the movie's planning to a halt. Directors John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein were the latest rumored to be helming the blockbuster, although there has been no official confirmation from the studio. Still, it seems like that's who Kiersey Clemons is referencing in her comments.

CinemaBlend will keep you updated on all things DC and Flash. In the meantime, check out our 2018 release list to plan your next trip to the movies.

Musicals are a fascinating genre. There's a huge emphasis on the songs, and the songwriting. But the music in a musical needs to be performed by talented actors and actresses who, you assume, love the music that they are putting on screen. Wouldn't it suck to watch Mamma Mia! and then learn that the cast hated ABBA? Or to finish La La Land, only to hear that Ryan Gosling hates jazz?

This popped into my mind after speaking with Kiersey Clemons about her winning new crowd-pleaser of a musical drama Hearts Beat Loud, which launched at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year and is making its way to theaters. Clemons stars alongside Nick Offerman (Parks and Rec) as a father-daughter duo who write a few original songs, only to find them taking off thanks to Spotify airplay. When Clemons told me that about the challenging aspects about filming Hearts Beat Loud, she brought up the music, and explained:

The songs written by Nick Offerman and Kiersey Clemons' characters in Brett Haley's Hearts Beat Loud are radio-friendly pop hits with irresistible hooks and empowering lyrical messages. It's easy to see why they find an audience -- even if it happens in an improbable fashion for the benefit of this charming family drama. But Clemons and Offerman are so good at performing the songs in the movie -- especially during their record-store concert, a signature scene in the film -- that I never once thought Clemons didn't personally connect with the genre.

And yet, this should have been clear. Throughout her career, Kiersey Clemons held roles in projects with musical ties. She co-starred in the Disney Channel hits Shake It Up and Austin & Ally. She broke out in the Sundance hit Dope, which had a strong soundtrack of early hip-hop. But as she tells CinemaBlend, when wanting to make her own brand of music, this might not be her first choice, no matter how catchy it sounds:

Hearts Beat Loud started screening in theaters last weekend, and got off to a strong start in limited release, earning roughly $75,000 in four locations. If the movie's playing near you, make sure to grab tickets... and be ready to download the soundtrack once you get home. It's that good.

The DC Extended Universe is a tricky place. The shared universe seem to be in a constant state of flux, as a series of director drop outs and new film announcements have left the DCEU without a concrete schedule. But one film that seems to be finally moving forward is the Flashpoint movie, which will be Ezra Miller's first solo movie as the live-action Barry Allen. The film will co-star Billy Crudup and Kiersey Clemons, the latter of which has been pretty vocal about her role as Iris West. Clemons recently teased the complicated timeline in the upcoming Flashpoint movie, and seems like it will be a wild one.

Sounds like Flashpoint will focus on the various timelines that Barry Allen is able to travel between, which should make the Scarlet Speedster's first solo movie unlike anything we've seen in the DCEU thus far.

Kiersey Clemons' comments to Entertainment Tonight will no doubt excite the comic book purists who are following the DC Extended Universe. Flashpoint is one of The Flash's most iconic plot points, so anticipation for the solo film has been slowly building since the title was revealed. The plot line revolves around an alternate universe, which Barry Allen suddenly wakes up in. He has no powers, his mother is alive, and his father died of a heart attack. The member of the Justice League are also vastly altered and more dark, making the iconic comic one of the biggest crossover events in The Flash's history.

And the DCEU's Flashpoint movie certainly seems to be strongly influenced by the comic series. Both Wonder Woman and Cyborg are currently set to appear in the film, allowing alternate versions of The League to show up throughout its runtime. A script has just been turned into the studio, which is currently seeking a director to helm the film. Unfortunately, it's already lost two in the form of Seth Grahame-Smith and Rick Famuyiwa.

Kiersey Clemons was set to make her debut as Iris West in the DCEU in Zack Snyder's Justice League. But it looks like her brief role will be left on the cutting room floor, so now we really don't know when and where we'll meet Iris within the context of Flashpoint. But with multiple universes likely factoring into the narrative, we may see more than one Iris before the film's runtime is complete.

While Flashpoint won't arrive in theaters until 2020, the next DCEU installment will be Justice League on November 17, 2017. While it looks like we won't see Kiersey Clemons in the film, Billy Crudup will make his debut as Dr. Henry Allen. In the meantime, check out our 2017 release list to plan your final trips to the movies before the New Year.

What happens after we die? Is there truly an afterlife with a white light at the end of a long, dark tunnel? These existential questions have plagued humanity for millennia, but perhaps science has finally caught up with our desire to know the truth of existence. A reimagining of the 1990 film directed by Joel Schumacher, Niels Arden Oplev's Flatliners attempts to answer all of our questions about life after death, but while the movie works on a technical and performance level, its cheap scares and contrived plot do little to move the dial forward for the horror genre.

Neither a direct sequel nor a full-blown remake, Flatliners takes the core idea established by the 1990 original and updates it with a new cast of characters for a new generation. Haunted by a (possibly preventable) car crash that took the life of her younger sister nine years earlier, Courtney (Ellen Page) is a talented medical student who spends her evenings secretly studying the mystery of the afterlife. Discovering a possible path to experience the afterlife for brief stretches of time, Courtney enlists the help of fellow students Ray (Diego Luna), Marlo (Nina Dobrev), Sophia (Kiersey Clemons), and Jamie (James Norton) to kill her for one minute and then bring her back. As a result of this bold experiment, the students not only find a path to the afterlife, but they fundamentally rewire their brains to unlock the cognitive potential that they never thought was possible. The downside? They bring something evil back from the other side with them that wants to punish them for their sins.

2017 has seen some great horror movies debut -- whether it is Annabelle: Creation, It, or Get Out. Sadly, we cannot place the Flatliners update among those ranks. Yes, Niels Arden Oplev capably helms the sequel-boot from a purely visual standpoint. That said, while there are a few legitimately creepy sequences (such as one involving a ghostly little girl drawing by candlelight), Flatliners boils down to a series of fake-out jump scares scattered throughout a relatively predictable narrative, and culminates in a rushed climax that simply doesn't pay off the preceding story in an emotionally satisfying way. There's quite a bit of style here, but minimal substance.

As a result, while Flatliners opens quickly and commendably gets to the point almost immediately, the film loses its momentum once the concept of "flatlining" has been fully explained and fleshed out. Because of this, the second act mostly boils down to a series of haunts shared between each of the four main characters that go through with the procedure. Like the steady flow of a pulse on a heartbeat monitor, Flatliners eventually becomes so predictable that you can almost anticipate which of these young doctors will be the next to find themselves visited by a demonic apparition before it even happens.

In a certain sense, it almost feels like Flatliners has one hand unfortunately tied behind its back by its need to stick within the horror genre. This reimagining expands on the premise of the original by positing that flatlining enhances the cognitive function of these stressed out and overworked medical students. It creates an interesting Limitless-esque framework to explore how these characters can become fixated to this dangerous game (drug and addiction motifs play a significant role in the story), but those compelling ideas are sidestepped to focus on the scares. It's a shame, because what could've been a deeper examination of the original's core premise mostly just devolves into a retread that struggles to justify its existence.

The more notable issue that plagues the film's ensemble is the fact that script does not afford the actors much to do in their respective roles. What we need to know about any of the five core doctors is usually summed up by a comment made about them ("Medicine comes easy to you," for example), and we're not given much of a reason to root for them or care about what's happening. Their rationale for taking part in the flatlining procedure is inherently selfish from the get-go, and the added layer of their sins coming back to haunt them ultimately makes it hard even to want to root for most of them to make it out of the film alive.

Despite that issue, if there are two shining lights in Flatliners, they would have to be Diego Luna and Ellen Page. Even when Flatliners' script does not give them much to do, they milk the material for all it is worth and deliver the two best performances in the movie. Page deserves particular credit, as she throws herself into Courtney's obsessed nature and really lets loose when the character realizes what she has unleashed. It just would've been nice to see a more compelling story constructed around the heroine.

Though competently directed and well-acted, Flatliners does little to set itself apart from a run-of-the-mill thriller. True to the material, it simply lacks a pulse. On a superficial level, the film will most likely deliver the requisite scares (albeit cheap jump scares) to enter the Halloween season, but it probably will fail to leave a lasting impression.

When it comes to starring in a Flatliners movie, being able to play dead is pretty important. After all, if you're playing a lead in the plot, your character being killed is a key moment in their arc. It was a challenge put upon Ellen Page, Kiersey Clemons and James Norton as the stars of the new Niels Arden Oplev-directed remake -- and I recently had the chance to talk with them about that particular part of the experience. To start, Norton told me,

Ellen Page, Kiersey Clemons and James Norton were all in Los Angeles this past weekend for the Flatliners domestic press day, and I had the chance to sit down with the trio for an on-camera interview. I opened the conversation asking what tricks they had learn to perfect the art of acting dead, and in their responses they noted that there were more than a few challenges in trying to make it all look realistic.

For her part, Ellen Page actually referenced another film that required her to play dead -- though the conditions were far worse than a climate-controlled, indoor medical lab, which surely must have made the Flatliners gig easy by comparison. At the same time, she also noted that having the opportunity to do something like that is ultimately one of the joys of being an actor. She explained,

Kiersey Clemons borrowed a bit from her Flatliners co-stars in her response, and suggested that at the end of the day, the watchword for the whole experience was simply 'Uncomfortable.' Said the actress,

You can watch the Flatliners stars talk about their individual experiences playing dead -- as well as who was the best at it and what it's like acting with defibrillators -- by clicking play on the video below!

Directed by Niels Arden Oplev, Flatliners is a remake of the 1990 thriller starring Ellen Page, Kiersey Clemons, James Norton, Diego Luna and Nina Dobrev as medical students who begin some seriously dangerous experimentation with death. Hoping to learn what happens to the mind after the heart stops beating, they actually go as far as to kill themselves in a controlled medical environment, and find themselves resurrected with special abilities. Unfortunately, these aren't the only side effects, and before long they find themselves haunted by their own personal demons.

Flatliners arrives in theaters this Friday, September 29th, and we'll have more about the film coming your way in the next few days here on CinemaBlend.

Following Zack Snyder's departure from Justice League, the movie continues to take shape. Now under the eye of Joss Whedon, who is overseeing reshoots and the post-production process, Justice League is trimming its fat and slowly taking shape into the movie that will be hitting theaters in November. Recently, part of those changes reportedly included cutting Jessie Eisenberg's Lex Luthor out of the movie. Now, another character has been left on the cutting room floor: Iris West. This means that actress Kiersey Clemons will be sitting this one out.

It sounds like Kiersey Clemons' DCEU debut is happening later than expected. Batman News has learned that Kiersey Clemons' scenes as Iris West in Justice League have been cut from the film. There's no word on how many scenes she appeared in or the specifics of what she did, but there's a good chance that viewers won't see her in the movie come November. If she was cut, then one would assume that she wasn't vital to the movie, which is why the powers that be decided to cut her.

Kiersey Clemons hasn't been able to reveal much about her time on the Justice League set, but she has voiced her excitement at being a part of the movie. When asked about her cameo, Clemons said that the parts introducing Iris were "fucking sick," but we might not see those scenes. Even if Clemons is cut out of the movie, there is always the chance that she could appear in deleted scenes. There is actually some precedence for this in the DCEU. Jena Malone's character was similarly cut out of Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice, but was added back in for the Ultimate Edition Blu-ray. Given the unique story behind Justice League's filming, I would not be surprised if some sort of extended edition ended up on store shelves.

If Kiersey Clemons has been cut out of Justice League then it'll be a few years before she makes her true debut in the DCEU. Her next scheduled appearance isn't until Flashpoint, the frequently delayed Flash solo movie. That's still a few years away, so we'll have to see if Clemons hangs in there and sticks with the project.

I don't think this is quite a major loss for Justice League. We have little context as to what Iris West's role would have been, but it was likely expanding the world of Barry Allen and doing a bit of legwork for his solo movie. Justice League has also been testing pretty well so far in early screenings. It sounds like the DC blockbuster is tightening up and trying to stand on its own legs without servicing future movies -- no doubt one of the lessons learned from Joss Whedon's time on a different blockbuster superhero film.

Justice League is set to hit theaters on November 17. To learn more about the movie, look through our everything we know so far guide.

Later this year, actress Kiersey Clemons will be making her debut as Iris West in Zack Snyder's Justice League­­ - but as many have pointed out, it will be the second live-action adaptation of the character we've seen recently. For the last three years, actress Candice Patton has been playing Iris on The Flash television series, and as a result we've been left wondering how the big screen and small screen iterations will compare and contrast. It turns out that any comparison that movie-goers eventually make between the two adaptations will be entirely coincidental, as Clemons has been avoiding the CW show like the plague since she got the DCEU gig. The actress told me today,

I had the pleasure of sitting down with Kiersey Clemons this morning during the Los Angeles press day for Marc Webb's The Only Living Boy In New York -- her new film co-starring Jeff Bridges, Kate Beckinsale, Pierce Brosnan and Cynthia Nixon. Towards the end of the interview, I steered the conversation towards her future as Iris West in the DC Extended Universe, and asked about her relationship with Candice Patton's take on the character on the Flash series. As you can read above, she has been very strict about keeping that relationship a distant one, as she has been completely staying away from it ever since she landed the Justice League part.

It likely won't be until The Flash's developing solo movie ­-- The Flash: Flashpoint -- that audiences get a full dose of Kiersey Clemons' take on Iris West, but it's been previously reported that the character would be introduced in Justice League. That being said, the film is currently in the midst of reshoots with replacement director Joss Whedon at the helm, and apparently none of the scenes they are doing include Iris. The actress told me,

For what should be obvious reasons, we have next to no idea what's being changed in Justice League following the reshoots, but Kiersey Clemons' comments certainly do make us wonder if her work is going to be affected by the edit. Unless it really makes no sense or kills the film's pacing, we're hoping it doesn't, as Clemons has proven herself a talented actress, and audiences certainly want to know more about the world of the new blockbuster Flash (played by Ezra Miller).

Should all things go according to plan, fans will be able to see Kiersey Clemons in Justice League when the film hits theaters on November 17th -- but before then you can see her back up on the big screen in The Only Living Boy In New York on August 11th.

Production of Hollywood blockbusters can be a difficult thing. With such high stakes and astronomical budgets, development tends to be public so that buzz and anticipation can grow. Unfortunately, this means that any steps backward are also public. This is exactly what happened with the DC Extended Universe's upcoming Flash movie, which recently lost its director Rick Famuyiwa. This dramatic change apparently happened due to creative differences behind the scenes, but it has left the Flash crew without a leader. And considering how Famuyiwa's activity in casting the project, the cast is presumably rather let down by the Dope director dumping the project.

Actress Kiersey Clemons is set to play Iris West in both Justice League and The Flash. She recently opened up to The Hollywood Reporter regarding Rick Famuyiwa's sudden departure, saying:

What a class act. While Kiersey Clemons may be disappointed that she'll no longer be working with Rick Famuyiwa, she's still got a job to do. And she's going to do it well.

It should come to no surprise that Kiersey Clemons is bummed out about Rick Famuyiwa leaving The Flash. The actress worked alongside Famuyiwa in 2015's Dope. The film was very well received by critics, and helped put Clemons on the map as a serious actress. Her great working relationship with the director is apparently why she signed on to join the DC Extended Universe, so now she's understandably upset that Famuyiwa will no longer be apart of the project.

Of course, this can't be the only reason Kiersey Clemons joined The Flash. Superhero movies are the hottest genre out there right now, and have the ability to catapult lesser known actors into bonafide superstardom. Plus the insane budgets make for some fun paychecks for actors who might not be making as much as A-listers like Jennifer Lawrence.

Kiersey Clemons is first jumping into the DC Extended Universe during the events of Justice League, before moving on to her starring role The Flash. Her character Iris is traditionally Barry Allen/The Flash's love interest, so if the DCEU continues expanding we have a lot of Clemons to look forward to. The DCEU has also been aggressive with their use of crossovers, who knows where else Iris could pop up in the future.

Justice League will hit theaters November 17, 2017 and The Flash is currently slated to be released March 2018- although this may change due to their setback.

Zack Snyder's Justice League is going to be a massive affair. The movie is still over a year away, and it's already become incredibly clear that just about every central hero's respective corner of the DCEU will receive some pretty thorough exploration. Now it seems that the Justice League supporting cast just got a bit larger, as we've just learned that actress Kiersey Clemons actually filmed a cameo as Iris West in the upcoming superhero epic.

Variety film reporter Justin Kroll recently took to Twitter and addressed certain rumors that have swirled around the production of Justice League. His tweet seemingly confirms that actress Kiersey Clemons filmed a cameo scene as Iris West in Zack Snyder's upcoming Justice League film -- he would go on to later clarify that the second "Clemons" in the tweet is typo, and should read "Iris." There are no concrete details regarding the nature of the scene, but as of now, she's at the very least slated to appear in the film. The DCEU has played fast and loose with certain aspects of the DC continuity, but it's pretty clear that the romance between Barry Allen and Iris continues to persist against all odds.

However, the recent shakeup with The Flash solo movie has us wondering whether or nor Kiersey Clemons will reprise the role of Iris West in The Scarlet Speedster's 2018 adventure. She signed on to the project after Rick Famuyiwa agreed to direct, and it's not outside the realm of possibility to wonder whether or not she may depart the project now that he's gone. The two had previously collaborated with one another on the 2015 indie hit, Dope, and actors have a tendency to stick with directors that they like, and vice versa.

Following his initial report that Kiersey Clemons did in fact film scenes for Justice League, Justin Kroll went on to indicate that her scenes could be cut from the final cut of the DC superhero team-up movie if Clemons does not return for The Flash. This means that whatever scenes she filmed for Justice League will take the form of cameos, rather than anything with a great deal of substance or overall impact on the central narrative of the film.

So as of now, we can confirm that Kiersey Clemons is in fact involved in the production of Justice League. Whether or not she remains part of the DC Extended Universe for the foreseeable future remains to be seen. CinemaBlend will bring you all of the latest and greatest DC news as more information becomes available to us. For now, Barry Allen and Iris West will make their respective debuts when Justice League premieres on November 17, 2017. Stay tuned for more details!

After cameoing in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice in March and being fully established next year in Justice League, Barry Allen, a.k.a. The Flash, will finally get to lead his own movie in early 2018. So far Ezra Miller's Barry has been the only confirmed character for the movie (duh), but now another piece of casting news has finally been confirmed. The word is out that Kiersy Clemons will officially play Iris West in The Flash movie.

Clemons was said to be the top choice to play Iris earlier this month, but Variety reported today that her deal has been finalized to play the female lead. Production on The Flash is reportedly beginning near the end of the year, so it was crucial they find Ezra Miller's costar as soon as possible. Clemons will be the second current live action Iris West, following Candice Patton on the CW Flash TV series.

Introduced in 1956's Showcase #4, the same issue where Barry Allen debuted, Iris West is a reporter for the Central City Picture News. She eventually learned that her boyfriend Barry Allen was The Flash the night of their wedding. While there have been bumps in the road for their relationship (including both her and Barry being dead for a time), Iris has remained Barry's primary love interest in the comics. The New 52 relaunch retconned history so that Barry and Iris were no longer married or romantically involved, but as of Rebirth, it appears that they're growing closer again. As the last name 'West' indicates, she is also the aunt of Wally West, a.k.a. Kid Flash, and for many years, the DC universe's main Flash.

Kiersey Clemons' recent movie appearances include playing Diggy in Dope and Beth in Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising. The former was directed by Rick Famuyiwa, who was brought in to helm The Flash following Seth Grahame-Smith's departure, so it's likely he was a big draw for her joining the project. Her other credits include the TV shows New Girl, Transparent and Extant, and she'll also appear in next year's Flatliners remake.

Now the cinematic Barry Allen and Iris West are finally paired together, but that's just the start for building The Flash movie's cast. While no other characters have been officially revealed by DC and Warner Bros yet, a list came out a few months ago that named Eobard Thawne (a.k.a. Reverse-Flash), Fred Chyre, Captain Cold and Jay Garrick as possible participants in the Scarlet Speedster's movie. That has yet to be confirmed, but as mentioned earlier, with the production nearing, we'll likely start hearing who else will be joining The Flash in the coming months.

The Flash races into theaters on March 16, 2018.

Now that Batman and Superman have finally duked it out on the silver screen, we have begun to set our sights towards the future of the DC Extended Universe. That means keeping a closer eye on the other DC solo movies set to hit theaters over the next few years. One such film that has us incredibly excited is the Ezra Miller fronted _Flash _film. However, up until now we've known very little about the project outside of the male lead. It seems that the project may have finally landed on its female star, and it's a casting decision that has us incredibly excited.

A new report from Variety states that The Flash solo film may have found its leading lady in the form of actress Kiersey Clemons. Although the exact nature of her role remains unclear at this point, the general consensus seems to be that the part in question will be that of Barry Allen's longtime love interest Iris West -- a decision that will undoubtedly please comic book fans.

Despite her young age, Kiersey Clemons has already managed to make a strong impression on audiences with the roles she has taken. The 22-year-old up and comer has appeared in numerous recent, high profile projects such as Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, Cloud 9, and Dope.

Her casting in The Flash solo movie makes a great deal of sense considering that Dope's director, Rick Famuyiwa, recently stepped in to fill the void left by the project's original director Seth Grahame-Smith. The Flash has undergone numerous behind the scenes shakeups in recent months, so having a familiar face among the cast will likely help Famuyiwa run an all around tighter ship.

The potential casting of Kiersey Clemons shows willingness for the filmmakers of The Flash to deviate from the source material, while still embracing what certain mainstream audiences have come to expect from the character. As an African-American actress, Clemons' appearance is a far cry from the red headed Caucasian woman that Iris West is often portrayed as. That being said, DC television has already proven that a racially swapped version of the character -- played in this instance by actress Candice Patton -- can be a genuine hit with fans. As long as she nails the character it really doesn't seem to matter.

We will keep you up to date regarding the Scarlet Speedster's solo adventure as more information becomes available to us. Production on the long-awaited film is expected to begin later this year, and while no official release date has been confirmed, it's widely rumored that The Flash will finally race into theaters in the spring of 2018.

It looks like pledge season is underway in Hollywood, and by pledge, we mean casting. Neighbors 2 is beginning to fill the sorority house that will be the source of conflict in next summer’s sequel to last summer’s breakout comedy hit. And the new sister is dope. Kiersey Clemons is now on board for the movie.

The Hollywood Reporter has the story that Clemons, most recently of Sundance darling, Dope, which was released this past June, is on board and will be part of the sorority that moves in next door to stars Seth Rogen and Rose Byrne. While most of the plot has been kept secret, we’ve seen the films subtitle listed as Sorority Rising and we know that Kick-Ass’s Hit Girl, Chloe Moretz, is already on board as the head of the house. In addition, Beanie Feldstein has also signed on for a role. Feldstein is a relative newcomer, but she happens to be Jonah Hill’s sister, and comedy does tend to do well in families. She most recently appeared in Fan Girl, which premiered at the L.A. Film Festival.

Zac Efron, the other star of the previous film, will also be reprising his role. When Rogen and Byre find that the new sorority is too much for them to handle, they call in Efron’s Teddy Sanders for assistance. The trio of Efron, Byrne, and Rogen combined for box office success with the original Neighbors last summer, putting up $150 million domestically against a budget that was less than $20 million. That’s the kind of profit that makes sequels happen. In addition to the returning stars in front of the camera, director Nicholas Stoller and screenwriters Andrew Jay Cohen and Brendan O’Brien are also involved in the sequel. While Neighbors 2 probably falls into the category of "sequels that don’t need to happen," everybody who made the original great is back, and we laughed at the first one, so we’ll let it slide.

While Dope was not the box office smash that Neighbors was, its production budget of $700,000, which is the kind of money Hollywood finds in the couch cushions, allowed the movie to be a financial success as well as a critical one. It also shows that Clemons can hold her own in a very adult, R-rated comedy. We already knew Hit Girl’s capacity for vulgarity, so Sorority Rising is definitely looking to follow its predecessor down that road. It's going to be a movie for kids is what we're saying.

We’re looking forward to meeting the entire sorority house when the film comes out next summer. Neighbors 2 is set for a May 20, 2016 release.