Lauren Ridloff’s Casting In Marvel’s ‘The Eternals’ Is A Huge Win For Disabled Representation In Film

On Saturday, July 20th, Marvel’s president Kevin Feige took the stage at SDCC (San Diego Comic Con International) to announce the much awaited Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Among the numerous projects slated for release the next few years are Thor: Love and Thunder, Black Widow, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. Also being developed is a handful of TV shows like Hawkeye, Wanda Vision, and Loki created for the upcoming Disney+ streaming service (set to launch in November), with most of the original actors from the films reprising their roles. What caught our attention the most though is the movie adaptation of Jack Kirby’s 1976 comic series The Eternals.

Arguably including lesser known superheroes than its Marvel predecessors, The Eternals is about a group of celestial beings with superpowers who are sent to Earth to protect mankind from the Deviants, a destructive alien race. At the much anticipated Marvel Studios panel in Hall H, the upcoming cast for the movie adaptation was unexpectedly announced and presented to thousands of screaming fans. With a mixture of big A-list actors and smaller names, Angelina Jolie (Thena), Richard Madden (Ikaris), Salma Hayek (Ajak), Kumail Nanjiani (Kingo), Brian Tyree Henry (Phastos), Lia McHugh (Sprite), Don Lee (Gilgamesh) and Lauren Ridloff (Makkari) took the stage as the titular characters. For us, the most exciting casting announcement came with newcomer Lauren Ridloff who will take on the gender-swapped role of Makkari, a speedster with super strength. 

Ridloff, who you might recognize from the most recent season of AMC’s The Walking Dead as Connie, is a Deaf American actress. A former teacher and Miss Deaf America (2000-2002), she’s been nominated for a Tony for her Broadway performance in the revival of Children of a Lesser God. With an already diverse cast, Lauren’s inclusion in The Eternals marks not only the first deaf superhero in the MCU, but also the first disabled actress to star in a mainstream superhero movie. In the original comics Makkari is not deaf, so the fact that they cast a deaf woman because of her talent and not her disability is a huge step for Marvel and the film industry in general. Marvel’s parent company Disney is no stranger to inclusion and diversity in its TV shows with openly gay characters (Andi Mack) and people with disabilities (Raven’s Home) being series regulars and making guest appearances. Even this Summer’s Toy Story 4 featured a little boy with a cochlear implant. 

Less than 2% of characters in movies and television are disabled. It’s not due to the fact that there’s a shortage of disabled actors, there’s plenty, but rather it’s the industry’s unwillingness to give the chance to those actors, to showcase their talents and abilities despite their disability. To complicate the situation more, disabled actors are rarely even cast in disabled roles! Heartbreakingly, 95% of roles that feature characters with disabilities are played by able bodied actors. Take in point the controversy in Bryan Cranston playing the role of a person in a wheelchair in 2017’s The Upside. This was a huge issue in the disabled community because once again instead of first offering the role to a capable disabled actor, Hollywood went for a big name draw instead of authenticity and accuracy of telling the story. Cranston himself saw no issue in taking the role comparing it to “playing a gay character as a straight man or a poor character as a wealthy person.” His argument was that an actor’s job is “to act”, to play a role of which is not your norm. While technically he is correct, the point is he took a role that could have potentially went to a disabled actor, which he was well aware of, yet defended his choice as purely a “business decision.” Yes, actors play different people in different roles, but think about it this way: Bryan Cranston, an able bodied man, is playing the role of a man in a wheelchair, but say for example if Daryl Mitchell (NCIS: New Orleans) a wheelchair bound actor, went in for a role and they wanted him to play a man who could walk, then what? There is no physical way he could do that! Disabled actors are limited to the roles they can play already, so when Hollywood casts an able bodied actor in a disabled role it makes it that much harder and scarcer to find work.

Currently, 1 in 4 Americans live with a disability, yet are the most overlooked minority because they are not as vocal as other groups. Disability Representation in film and media is important. In 2015, actress and singer Ali Stroker became the first woman in a wheelchair to star on Broadway. Micah Fowler, who has Cerebral Palsy, starred for three seasons in ABC’s Speechless which also featured comedian Zach Anner – who also has CP –  as a writer for the show. And we can’t forget the extraordinary Jamie Brewer from American Horror Story who was born with Down Syndrome. Things are starting to change! Think about how many people went to go see Avengers: Endgame or Black Panther? Now imagine how many people are going to see The Eternals when it comes out because of it being a Marvel film?! Millions of movie watchers are going to be able to see Ridloff on screen kicking ass in a role that primarily goes to able bodied actors. Makkari from The Eternals is a white male with no physical disability being played by a half Mexican, half African-American deaf woman! Can we just take a minute to applaud Marvel for looking past disability and purely casting on talent alone? Which is really how it always should be. Whether they know it or not, The Eternals is going to bring awareness to actors with disabilities and how they can do just as an amazing job as any non-disabled actor, despite their limitations.

That is why representation matters. That is why Ridloff being cast in The Eternals is a huge deal. This is a giant step for Disabled America. Most importantly, think of all the young kids who are deaf and hard of hearing who will see Makkari on screen and see themselves! We’ve already witnessed the positive effects of movies like Black Panther giving strong newfound role models to so many people that may have felt unrepresented. Compared to a few years ago, Hollywood has come a long way with diversity, but how many on screen heroes and heroines are there for a little boy in a wheelchair with Spina Bifida or the pre-teen girl who uses a walker because she has a rare muscular condition? None. In an interview with NowThis Entertainment, Ridloff states “I feel representation is so important whether it’s in real life or on TV or on the big screen. We need to see other people who are like ourselves to help us define who we are.” Lauren Ridloff is paving the way for Hollywood to include more disabled actors in major blockbusters for years to come. We are excited to see what she brings to the character of Makarri and once again we applaud Marvel for looking past the disability of a person, but at their abilities. *cough* Now we just need Disney to make a princess in a wheelchair *cough*.

The Eternals is currently in production in London and will kick off Phase 4 of the MCU. Be sure to mark your calendars for Friday, November 6, 2020 when The Eternals is expected to open worldwide.