Aldis Hodge, LEVERAGE Star, Wants To Be Black Panther

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I’m going to come clean, as concerns the Boston crime caper drama, Leverage. Aldis Hodge is, by and large, an unknown to me. The show, which apparently is driven by some kind of criminal activity – Piracy? Patent theft? Cock-fighting? – was set in Boston, but is now moving to Portland, which is where it has been shot all along. Oh, and it’s in its fourth season.

Well, Leverage Season 4, I salute you. You’ve accomplished what shows by J. J. Abrams and Shawn Ryan couldn’t even manage a season.

But I’m actually here because one of your stars wants other work.

Aldis Hodge sat down with TVLine and had a chat about the direction of Leverage and his career. Most of the Q&A was typical Variety-style stock in trade: He’s excited, the show’s taking a new direction, everybody works so well together.

Then he brought up Black Panther.

For those of you out there who have only a passing acquaintance with the Marvel Universe, Black Panther is – brace yourself for a surprise – a black superhero: Ruler of an African country, pal to Captain America, blend of Batman and Lumumba. Thing is, he’s pretty famous among the in-crowd. So naturally, Marvel has him slated for a solo film that will tie in to the Avengers sequel.

Aldis hopes they pencil him in for the lead in Black Panther, 2014. He has a good a chance as any – though, actually, given his soaring fame and accented speech, Idris Elba might have the best chance. The film hasn’t begun casting.

Leverage should tide Aldis over. He’s got 18 episodes of season 4 to go. From what I know, it could be strong enough for a season 5. Leverage is run by Dean Devlin, who’s an unsung master of sleeper hits. Once I got over the shock that Leverage existed, finding out that Devlin – who’s made millions without drawing mainstream notoriety – spawned it explained why it was unknown to me.

I’m still not over the shock that they’re filming Ant Man for 2014, though. That’ll probably take all the while until the premiere.

2 Comments

1. 

   Alikat7

   July 17, 2012 at 8:48 am

   Leverage is already showing Season 5 in the US. It returned on Sunday, July 15.

   Aldis has done many accents in his career and he’s quite awesome at it!

   Reply
2. 

   Belladhanna

   July 18, 2012 at 11:22 am

   I think Aldis would be great as the Black Panther. I’m of the thought that Idris Elba (yum!) is a bit to old to be the Prince and should be cast as his father.

   I also read that there are those who think Chiwetel Ejiofor or Romeo Miller could play the Panther. I think Mr. Ejiofor, like Idris, might be a shade to old, but Romeo could be a bit young. He may be the only ‘competition’ Aldis has as far as age goes.

   I think Aldis is perfect for the part. I’ve heard him to several accents on the show and seen his work in several other tv shows and he’s never disappointed.

   Marvel should give him a call.

   Reply