This Is Us star Sterling K. Brown, fresh off a win at the Screen Actors Guild Awards, will next appear in Marvel Studios‘ Black Panther as N’Jobu — a figure from T’Challa’s (Chadwick Boseman) past — and while the actor is remaining tight-lipped about his mysterious role in the Ryan Coogler-directed film, he does promise the blockbuster will be “dope.”
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“It’s gonna be awesome,” Brown told ET Canada.
“The hype is deserved. The hype is deserved,” Brown said.
“I’m excited for Chad, I’m excited for Ryan. I’m excited for people of color, and of the mainstream, to see a Black superhero and for that to be a normal thing in society.”
The actor says he read Marvel’s Black Panther comic books nearly a decade ago, but never thought the African superhero would make the jump from the page to the big screen.
“I can remember reading the Black Panther comic books about nine years ago, being like, ‘these are awesome. They ain’t ever gonna make no Black superhero movie, but these are awesome,’” Brown said.
“And now the day is here. Like the tide has turned, and it’s gonna be on the screen, and it’s gonna be dope.”
Brown made history Sunday night, becoming the first Black actor to win the SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama.
Earlier this month, Brown took home the Golden Globe for Best Performance by an Actor in a Television Series in the drama category for his work as Randall Pearson in NBC drama This Is Us.
The actor, whose stock is on the rise in Hollywood, threw his hat in the ring to portray DC Comics superhero John Stewart in Warner Bros.’ Green Lantern Corps with a January 2017 tweet, writing, “Dear powers that be, if you are looking for someone to play John Stewart, I humbly submit my name.”
Making his jump to the world of superheroes, Brown compared the secrecy around Black Panther to something out of a Mission: Impossible movie, calling work on a Marvel film the “pinnacle of secrecy training.”
“You get the script, but not a hard copy. And then, like, it dissolves — like, it’s Mission: Impossible. The link self-destructs. … Then you get to set and they give you your sides [scenes] for the day, and when you finish shooting, you turn your sides in,” Brown explained.
“And if you don’t turn your sides in — ’cause I forgot mine at the hotel one time — they follow you to your hotel to get your sides. And then you sign out. They ain’t [playing] around.”
Starring Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Danai Gurira, Lupita Nyong’o, Letitia Wright, Martin Freeman, Andy Serkis, Angela Bassett and Forest Whitaker, Marvel Studios’ Black Panther opens February 16.
