Shazam! Fury of the Gods Star Almost Played a Different DC Character

Later this month, moviegoers will be treated to Shazam! Fury of the Gods, the first of four DC-inspired films set to arrive this year. The project not only follows the new adventures of the Shazamily!, but introduces the Daughters of Atlas, a trio of antagonistic sisters who are sure to pose a major threat. One of those sisters is Anthea, played by West Side Story‘s Rachel Zegler — but as it turns out, she almost took on a wildly different DC role. In a recent interview with SlashFilm, Zegler revealed the audition process for Fury of the Gods, and revealed that it wasn’t the first DC character she auditioned for. After fans had theorized that Zegler had been cast as Hawkgirl or Zatanna, it turns out she was originally briefly in contention for The Flash‘s Kara Zor-El / Supergirl, who is now being played by Sasha Calle.

“Oh gosh, it was so fast. I auditioned for West Side Story for a year,” Zegler revealed. “They really kept me on the edge of my seat for a year. I sweat out my entire junior year, so it was horrible. Borderline abuse, at that point, for actors, that anybody who has done it knows, having you go in nine times for something is torture. So then with this one, I booked them a month and a half, and I was like, “Is this what it’s like? Is it supposed to be like this?” And my agents were like, “Yeah.” But no, I read for Rich [Delia], who was our casting director, and he originally had come to me with Supergirl for [The] Flash, and I was not right for it. He was like, “You know what, I’ve got a character in mind for you for Shazam.’ They’re looking at X, Y, Z. We would love it if you came in and read.”

“So I read on Zoom,” Zegler continued. “Obviously, the era of Zoom is isolation, pandemic era. Then I went back in, and I read for David Sandberg, and then for the last time, I had a chemistry read with Jack Dylan Grazer. The story goes that Jack picked me. That Peter Safran, our producer, turned to him and was like, “Which one did you like the best, Jack?” and he said, “Well, she’s Maria in West Side Story, so we got to have her.” Because Jack is a very big West Side Story fan. Jack loves West Side Story. So I have him to thank, really.”

What is Shazam! 2 about?

In Shazam! Fury of the Gods, when Billy Batson and his foster siblings, who transform into superheroes by saying “Shazam!”, are forced to get back into action and fight the Daughters of Atlas, they must stop them from using a weapon that could destroy the world in which they must travel in order to make peace with the Gods because of Billy taking their powers for granted.

The film stars Asher Angel and Zachary Levi as Billy Batson / Shazam!, Grace Caroline Currey as Mary Bromfield, Adam Brody as Super Hero Freddy, Faithe Herman as Darla Dudley, Meagan Good as Super Hero Darla, Ian Chen as Eugene Choi, Ross Butler as Super Hero Eugene, Jovan Armand as Pedro Pena, D.J. Cotrona as Super Hero Pedro, Marta Milans as Rosa Vasquez, and Cooper Andrews as Victor Vasquez. New cast members also include Helen Mirren as Hespera and Lucy Liu as Kalypso.

What do you think of Rachel Zegler having auditioned for The Flash‘s Supergirl? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

Shazam! Fury of the Gods is set to be released exclusively in theaters on March 17th.