Helen Mirren joins DC’s Shazam! sequel as a villain

Mirren has previously been nominated for four Academy Awards and won the best actress Oscar

It has been announced that Dame Helen Mirren will star as a villain in DC’s superhero sequel Shazam! Fury of the Gods.

The 75-year-old actress has joined the cast of the impending DC Comics film, where she will play the wicked Hespera, who is described as the daughter of Atlas in the movie’s official description.

London-born Mirren has previously been nominated for four Academy Awards and won the best actress Oscar for her lead role in the 2006 royal drama The Queen.

Shazam: Fury of the Gods will be a continuation of 2019’s acclaimed film Shazam!, and will proceed with the narrative of teen Billy Batson who, after speaking the enchantment word “Shazam!”, is struck by the “Living Lightning” of the gods and changed into his grown-up superhuman alter ego, Shazam.

Alongside Mirren, American actor Asher Angel will return as Billy, whilst actor and comedian Zachary Levi will play the grown-up version of the nominal hero.

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American singer and actress Rachel Zegler, who plays Maria in Steven Spielberg’s forthcoming West Side Story adaptation, was also confirmed to have joined the Shazam! sequel cast in an as-yet-undisclosed role that will be key to the story.

Swedish filmmaker David F Sandberg, who is best known for his collective no-budget horror short films, is returning to direct the sequel from a screenplay by Henry Gayde, whilst British-American film producer Peter Safran is producing through The Safran Company.

Plot details for the sequel are being kept hidden, however, it’s conceivable it could highlight the presence of a few different gods from Greek mythology, as they are supposed to be are where Shazam gets his power from. In mythology, the Hesperides were goddess-nymphs said to descend from the Titan Atlas.

Shazam: Fury of the Gods is set to be released on 2 June, 2023.