‘Deadpool 2’ Actress Zazie Beetz on Exploring Domino’s History and the Weight of the Sequel

Atlanta actress Zazie Beetz says that while Deadpool 2 will still feature the same style of wisecracks and sight-gags that made the first film a smash, she was thrilled at the prospect of exploring the more serious aspects of her character, the mutant heroine Domino.

“I loved exploring the dramatic parts of it,” Beetz told ComicBook.com at the premiere of the second season of her FX series. “For Domino specifically, I loved thinking about her past and pulling that into even the comedy of [what] we’re doing it in the film, since it is based in that.”

“In Deadpool 2 I think we go heavier than the first one did,” the actress added. “Like Atlanta, the themes are darker. I liked playing this woman who could meet Deadpool face-to-face and toe-to-toe. In terms of our wit and our banter, we match. It really was nice to play that.”

Meanwhile, Beetz can be seen in Atlanta: Robbin’ Season, the latest installment of the critically hailed series created by and starring Donald Glover, playing Van, the very responsible girlfriend/baby mama to Glover’s Earn. She revealed that she actually felt less stress coming back to the show, with returns to high expectations among its audience,

“I have to say, I felt so much more at ease and so much more relaxed, and I had, honestly, a lot more fun because I was just a bundle of nerves the first time, and felt a lot of pressure to deliver,” she laughed. “Here, I think just because we knew each other and we knew the characters, I just felt so much more comfortable and I could play a lot more. No, I felt way less pressure than I did the first time. I felt way, way, better.”

Deadpool 2, which stars Ryan Reynolds as the red-suited mercenary, premieres on May 18th.