British actress Talisa Garcia (Serve and Protect, Baptiste) has been cast in the upcoming sequel series Willow, based on the 1988 film starring Warwick Davis and Val Kilmer. Davis is returning to the starring role in the series, which follows a princess who assembles a party to join her on a quest to rescue her twin brother.
Garcia will play a Queen and the mother to Tony Revolori’s character, who takes part in the quest. Garcia’s role is a small speaking part and the actress may ultimately only appear in one episode.
The casting marks the first known time a trans actor has portrayed a cis character in a Disney+ film or series. During the shoot, Deadline reports that there was pride and support among many of Garcia’s colleagues about her casting. The report goes on to say that Garcia was cast in the project long before the storm developed surrounding Disney’s response to the ‘Don’t Say Gay’ bill and new wave of concerns emerged about on-screen representation in Disney productions.
It’s noted that last year, Raya And The Last Dragon actress Patti Harrison became the first known trans actor to voice a character in a Disney animated movie. In 2019, Spider–Man’s Zach Barack became Marvel Studios’ first transgender actor. More recently, non-binary trans actor iris menas portrayed Anybodys in 20th Century Studios’ West Side Story reboot. Meanwhile, there have been reports online in recent days that Disney+ series Ironheart is looking to recruit a trans actress.
Last year, Chloe Zhao’s film Eternals featured the first ever gay superhero in a MCU movie – with Brian Tyree Henry taking on the role of Eternal and inventor Phastos. Lauren Ridloff also starred in the feature film – making history as the first deaf actor ever to play a superhero in a studio feature film.
Representation matters, and we support actors of all genders and orientations being represented across all types of projects. It’s cool to see new faces onscreen, and there are definitely enough cool projects out there to add diversity to.