Lovecraft Country’s Jonathan Majors talks Superman fan-casting

Word is that Warner Bros. is looking to cast a Black actor as Superman, and fans — including Star Wars veteran John Boyega — think Jonathan Majors fits the bill.

Lovecraft Country came out last year on HBO and instantly became a water cooler series. Set in Jim Crow-era America, it combined spine-tingling horror stories with even scarier real-life history, all of it held together by a capable cast led by Jonathan Majors as Atticus Freeman.

Atticus was an interesting character in that he was a war veteran who knew how to take a punch but also loved sci-fi and fantasy books; he’s an action hero nerd, if you will. Speaking to The A.V. Club, Majors talked about what made Atticus so unique. “I mean, yeah, Atticus is built like a brick shithouse, sure,” he began. “But the way he uses his brain, that’s the cool part. Everyone has one of those—not everyone has that height, genetics are genetics…But, everyone has a brain, and when you watch Atticus use that brain, you go, ‘Wow, I could do that. I get that. I’m into that.'”

"That unites people more so than running fast and fighting things and throwing punches. That unites so many people. Nerds come together, please, unite. Let’s all unite, it’s on. For me, that was very important, that Atticus is, and it’s coming to me now, a “yes and” character. Yes, he is that and he is this, and that’s the beautiful part about it. Yes, he’s this war hero. Yes, he can shoot a gun and run fast and take punches, but he also is a nerd. Those things are held at the same level. This man, this Black man, holds multitudes, and uses all of those things as a weapon. He weaponizes his mind. That is a beautiful thing and that was very important for me to let breathe and let live in the series."

See Majors play that combination of brains and brawn may be why some fans are wondering if he could take on the role of Superman, especially after reports that Warner Bros. is looking to cast a Black man in the role for a new movie. Even Star Wars veteran John Boyega named Majors as a good candidate to play the Man of Steel while talking to The Hollywood Reporter. “That’s funny,” Majors said. “It’s great. Love to hear it.”

Majors doesn’t say if he’d be interested in something like that, but it’s clear he has the chops. “I would say it is an untapped archetype,” he mused. “The warrior and the wizard, or the soldier and the nerd, rarely come together as one. Rarely does that happen. That is Atticus. Funny enough, that’s Perry Mason…That’s Clark Kent all the way. And somebody said that about Iron Man, you know what I mean? But Atticus is a brother, and that’s just shifts shit all the way up. That adds a whole different layer to it and Atticus is now hopefully throw into the canon of a Tony Stark and and a Perry Mason and a Clark Kent. That’s beautiful, that has relevance.”

We’ll keep our ear to the ground for anymore Superman news. And of course we’d love more Lovecraft Country sooner or later:

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