Captain Marvel: DeWanda Wise Reveals the Real Reason She Was Recast

Jurassic World Dominion is hitting theatres next week and will feature the franchise debut of DeWanda Wise as Kayla Watts, a pilot who teams up with Clarie Dearing (Bryce Dallas Howard) and Owen Grady (Chris Pratt). However, Jurassic World was not the first franchise Wise was involved in. The actor was originally cast as Maria Rambeau in Captain Marvel, but had to drop out due to her scheduling conflicts with Netflix's She's Gotta Have It, and the role ended up going to Lashana Lynch. During a recent chat with Gizmodo, Wise opened up about leaving the role. 

"I did not choose to leave," Wise explained. "Like, I would never make that choice for myself, that sounds ridiculous. You sign a contract for a TV show and it's in first position, and that's just a responsible... you have audience members who are like, 'I would've taken a lawsuit.' Good for you. I don't wanna be sued! Not trying to be sued by Spike Lee and Netflix. So, you know, at the time it was very disappointing, and also difficult in that context."

"Maria was a pilot, and... I don't repeat performances," she added. "So If I had played in Captain Marvel, if I'd already played a pilot, and then Colin [Trevorrow] called me for this and he's like 'Guess what? She's a pilot,' I would've been like 'I'm so sorry, I don't believe in capitalism. You're gonna have to find someone else.' I just think everything happens in the timing that it's meant to happen, and I'm very thankful to be here now."

During a recent chat with ComicBook.com, Wise confirmed Kayla is bisexual in Dominion. 

"It's important, and it's also important to me that we continue to expand the conversation beyond looking for the kiss," Wise explained. "If you're queer, you're queer ... I said what I said. All the time. You don't turn it off. It doesn't matter if your partner's in the cockpit with you. It just is a statement of being." She added, "So that was one of the things just in her DNA, in her dino DNA, ensuring that she is who she is. Kayla is bi, and that's just, it is what it is."

As for Maria Rambeau, the character was killed off-screen in WandaVision, but Lynch returned as a Captain Marvel variant version of the character in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. 

Jurassic World Dominion is scheduled to be released in theaters on June 10th.