Susan Heyward Grabs Racebent Role of Deena Pilgrim in Powers

The powers that be.
This article is over 10 years old and may contain outdated information

Recommended Videos

Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming’s Powers has had a long and rocky road to getting a series, including a pilot, reshoots, a reboot, and now a full series pickup from Sony for airing on PlayStation consoles. We’ve gotten our first casting announcement today, revealing that the production is taking a laudable wide view as far as its leads are concerned.

Susan Heyward (not to be confused with Susan Hayward), Max Fowler, and Adam Godley will all be what seems to be major characters in the new series. Powers concerns the lives and work of newly partnered detectives Deena Pilgrim and Christian Walker, one a secret ex-superhero who’s lost their powers, the other a person who has only recently come into their own powers and is striving to keep them a secret. Between the two of them, they wind up working superhero-related cases pretty often. According to Deadline:

Fowler will play Krispin Stockley, the son of Walker’s murdered partner, a disaffected teen still struggling with the death of his father at the hand of a rogue Power which starts him on a dark journey that will warp him both physically and emotionally. Godley will play Captain Cross, the solid steel in a frail frame captain of the Powers division, bookish, respectful and loyal but may harbor a secret agenda that could lead his beloved department into a full-fledged conspiracy.

Heyward has been tapped for the role of Deena Pilgrim herself. Deena is already a neat subversion of a predominantly male trope: the loose cannon cop who doesn’t play by the rules because of unresolved personal issues—the kind of character easily inhabited by, say, Andy Samberg or Mel Gibson. But it’s also exciting that the production chose Heyward, a black actress, to play one of its two depicted-as-white leads, and it seems like Heyward’s pretty excited about it as well:

Powers will become the first original television series to stream exclusively on the PlayStation Network, premiering in December.

(via Deadline)

Previously in Powers

Are you following The Mary Sue on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, & Google +?


The Mary Sue is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy
Author
Image of Susana Polo
Susana Polo
Susana Polo thought she'd get her Creative Writing degree from Oberlin, work a crap job, and fake it until she made it into comics. Instead she stumbled into a great job: founding and running this very website (she's Editor at Large now, very fancy). She's spoken at events like Geek Girl Con, New York Comic Con, and Comic Book City Con, wants to get a Batwoman tattoo and write a graphic novel, and one of her canine teeth is in backwards.