Captain Marvel star Lashana Lynch has been tapped to join the cast in the upcoming Matilda movie musical adaptation for Netflix.
Variety reports that Lynch will be taking on the role of Miss Honey, Matilda’s sweet yet strong teacher. For those unfamiliar, Matilda, originally written by Roald Dahl, tells the story of five-year-old Matilda, whose telekinetic powers emerge in an effort to overcome bullying from her parents and the headmistress at her school. The film will follow the 1996 film adaptation and 2010 stage production Matilda the Musical, with Netflix and Sony’s TriStar Pictures handling worldwide distribution and an exclusive U.K. theatrical release, respectively.
Marcus Warchus, who previously directed the 2010 stage play, will return to direct the film, alongside original playwright Dennis Kelly who will pen the screenplay. Matilda the Musical made its Broadway debut in 2013, later earning seven 2012 Olivier Awards and five Tony Awards in 2013. Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner will produce for Working Title with Luke Kelly to produce on behalf of The Roald Dahl Story Company. The film will also feature original music and lyrics from Tim Minchin.
After her breakout role as Maria Rambeau in Captain Marvel, Lashana Lynch went on to land another major role—the first-ever Black woman 007 in the upcoming James Bond flick, No Time to Die. As per usual, racists fans and trolls fixed their mouths to express their disdain over the news of the new Bond. Lynch, who is one of the cover stars for the January/February 2021 issue of British GQ, spoke to the magazine about her thoughts on the backlash and her history-making role:
“White patriarchy will always have something to say when it comes to things like that,” she says. “But the magnitude of it was ridiculous. For me, none of it is real. As soon as my phone is off or I’m out of the app, it quite literally doesn’t exist any more.” More than the racist response from a few angry men on the internet, what frustrates her is the false sense of achievement about her casting that has cropped up over a now year-long press tour – elongated unnaturally by the two delays to No Time To Die’s release.
She’s tired, she says, of “the fact that you have to celebrate it, like it’s this New Age thing, like black people have just arrived on the planet. That’s what annoys me about the idea of Idris Elba being ‘the black Bond’... For my community, those are really big things, but for the world, I need you to not care about it.”
No Time to Die is now set to debut on April 2, 2021. Matilda’s release date has yet to be confirmed at this time.