DC's Shazam Sequel Casts Lucy Liu As Villain

Lucy Liu (Kung Fu Panda, Why Women Kill) will play the villainous Kalypso in the upcoming Shazam! Fury of the Gods sequel to 2019's Shazam!, according to Deadline. Liu joins Zachary Levi, who will reprise the title role, as well as new cast members Rachel Zegler and Helen Mirren, who will play the villain Hespera, a daughter of Atlas and sister to Kalypso.

As the cast begins to fill out, we still have a ways to go until the movie hits theaters on June 2, 2023--which is why we still don't quite know the movie's plot. Kalypso and Hespera both didn't exist in DC comic books, but these characters from Greek mythology--and a few others--have been rumored to be the main villains, with at least one more sister expected to be announced. Although it doesn't tell us a great deal about what the movie is actually about, we do know a bit through omission--comedian Sinbad will not, despite persistent rumors, be in the movie.

In the meantime, there are plenty of DC movies arriving before 2023. James Gunn's The Suicide Squad releases in August, with Matt Reeves' The Batman following in March 2022. Beyond that, The Flash and Aquaman 2 are currently scheduled for November and December 2022, while Dwayne Johnson will make his DC debut in the Shazam spin-off Black Adam, which doesn't have a release date yet. For more, check out GameSpot's guide to every upcoming DC movie we know about.

As vaccines continue to roll out and become more widely accessible, plans to journey out to theaters will once again become part of the plan to see new movies. In related news, it was announced that DC's parent company Warner Bros. has reached a deal with Regal theater owners Cineworld over the exhibition of its movies starting in 2022. Warner films will play exclusively in Regal theaters in the US for 45 days, before then heading to digital platforms.

It was also recently announced that Fox is now "exploring" an Ally McBeal revival series, which may or may not see Liu return to the role that helped make her a household name in the '90s.