Djimon Hounsou Has Been Cast as a 3,000-Year-Old Wizard in SHAZAM!
Shazam! has added a great new cast member! According to EW, Djimon Hounsou was quietly cast in the role of the 3,000-year-old sorcerer who ends up giving young Billy Batson his powers in the story so that he can magically transform into a fully adult-size superhero.
In the comics, The Wizard is an ancient being and the last surviving member of a council of wizards who must find a champion to battle the evil Black Adam.
This Is Us actor Ron Cephas Jones was previously reported as getting this role, but due to scheduling conflicts, he wasn't able to do it. Hounsou is a talented actor and it's good to see him take on the role. He'll be great in the film!
We all have a superhero inside us, it just takes a bit of magic to bring it out. In Billy Batson’s (Asher Angel) case, by shouting out one word—SHAZAM!—this streetwise 14-year-old foster kid can turn into the adult Super Hero Shazam (Zachary Levi), courtesy of an ancient wizard. Still a kid at heart—inside a ripped, godlike body—Shazam revels in this adult version of himself by doing what any teen would do with superpowers: have fun with them! Can he fly? Does he have X-ray vision? Can he shoot lightning out of his hands? Can he skip his social studies test? Shazam sets out to test the limits of his abilities with the joyful recklessness of a child. But he’ll need to master these powers quickly in order to fight the deadly forces of evil controlled by Dr. Thaddeus Sivana (Mark Strong).
Shazam! also stars Jack Dylan Grazer (IT) as Billy’s best friend and ultimate superhero enthusiast, Freddy, part of the foster family that includes Mary, played by Grace Fulton (Annabelle: Creation); Darla, played by Faithe Herman (This is Us); Eugene, played by Ian Chen (Fresh Off the Boat); and Pedro, played by Jovan Armand (TV’s Hawaii Five-O). Cooper Andrews of The Walking Dead and Marta Milans (Killer Women) play foster parents Victor and Rosa Vasquez.
Shazam! will be released on April 5, 2019.