Lyric Ross, taking on a major role on NBC’s smash hit This Is Us, is on board the Marvel Universe.
Ross will star with Dominique Thorne and Anthony Ramos in Marvel’s Ironheart, a Disney+ series that revolves around the titular Iron Man-adjacent character.
Thorne will play Riri Williams, a talented juvenile inventor who, in the comics, constructs her own Iron Man armor in her MIT dorm. Williams made his debut in 2016’s Invincible Iron Man #7, which was written by Brian Michael Bendis and illustrated by Mike Deodato. At times in the comics, she even takes over as Iron Man from Tony Stark; in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Stark, portrayed by Robert Downey Jr., courageously dies in Avengers: Endgame battling power-mad Thanos.
Ross will portray Williams’ close friend. Ramos’ role is being kept under wraps, but insiders claim he might be the show’s antagonist.
Chinaka Hodge, who previously worked as a staff writer on TNT’s Snowpiercer series, will serve as the lead writer for Ironheart, which begins filming in Atlanta in June.
Ross had featured in Sirens and Chicago Fire before being landing the role of Deja Pearson in Us’ second season. Her character became the adopted adolescent who was rescued from the foster system by Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson). The sixth and last season of the show is now airing.
Following her stellar performance in the series, Ross was honored to receive a Teen Choice Award nomination, three NAACP Image Award nominations, and a SAG Award for best ensemble performance in a drama series in 2019.
Ross, whose current coming-of-age adolescent drama, The Class, is in the pipeline, is represented by Paradigm and Randy James Management.
