In case you haven’t already heard, Mary J. Blige has been slaying the silver screen. And she’s set to take on the small screen soon. The recent double Oscar nominee has been tapped to co-star in Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy, a live-action TV series where the Bronx native will play a hit-woman who travels through time to kill her targets.
After receiving a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame back in January, Mary also received Oscar nominations for Best Supporting Actress and Original Song for Netflix’s film Mudbound, making history as the first person to receive nominations in those categories in a single year, according to BBC News. Set it off, Mary!
And now, according to Deadline, the singer-actress will be kicking some major butt in another Netflix original The Umbrella Academy. Based on popular graphic novels, the TV show will follow a group of estranged dysfunctional family members who happen to be superheroes, all known as The Umbrella Academy. They come together in an effort to solve their father’s mysterious death, which proves to be more difficult than they thought.
Mary will play Cha-Cha, a fierce and eccentric assassin who travels through time to kill her assigned targets. Cha Cha is a major departure from the silently headstrong Mudbound character she played.
“Even though [Cha Cha] has a few gripes about the bureaucracy of her employers, this job is her life. She is sadistic, sociopathic, and her reputation precedes her,” Deadline describes. “Her true love is torture, and she thinks of herself as a ‘pain artist.’ She really doesn’t care for people—except for her partner Hazel.”
Although it might be weird seeing the sweetheart of R&B play what seems to be a dark character, don’t get it twisted. The 47-year-old has exercised her acting chops before the recent critical acclaim, previously stepping on to Fox’s Empire, ABC’s Black-ish, and NBC’s The Wiz! Live.
And who knows – maybe playing a “sadistic, sociopathic” assassin might be the outlet she needs during this time of major divorce drama she is currently going through with Kendu Isaacs. Continue to slay, Mary!