The adaptation of the Vertigo comic DMZ has added Benjamin Bratt to its cast in a series-regular role, according to Deadline. The upcoming pilot for HBO Max will see Bratt as the powerful gang leader Parco Delgado opposite Rosario Dawson‘s Alma Ortego in the series which is being directed and produced by Ava DuVernay. Roberto Patino serves as the series’ showrunner and writer. DMZ sees Bratt returning to comic book inspired projects, having previously played Jonathan Pangborn in Marvel’s Doctor Strange. Bratt’s other film work includes Disney’s Coco, Traffic, Snitch, and Ride Along 2. Bratt also played Detective Reynaldo Curtis on television’s Law & Order for several seasons.
DMZ is set in a near-future America where a Second American Civil War has left Manhattan as a demilitarized zone (hence DMZ) that is destroyed and isolated from the rest of the world. Dawson’s Alma is a medic “who saves lives while desperately searching for her lost son. As she contends with the gangs, militias, demagogues and warlords who control this lawless no man’s land, she becomes the unlikely source of what everyone has lost: hope.”
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Bratt’s Delgado is described as “the popular — and deadly — leader of one of the most powerful gangs in the DMZ. He wants to rule the DMZ and will stop at nothing to secure that outcome. Delgado is known as a wildly magnetic, affable and equally influential man.”
DMZ, from Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli and ran for 72 issues from 2005 to 2012, was one of Vertigo’s more prominent titles in the 2000s. The Vertigo Comics imprint was shut down by DC Comics in January following a corporate restructuring that took place in the early 2010s that led to founding editor Karen Berger leaving DC Entertainment.
“DMZ is a special project to me as it marks a key collaboration with my company Array Filmworks, the excellent team at Warner Bros TV and the dynamo Roberto Patino,” DuVernay shared with Deadline when the project was announced. “We’ve all worked diligently on this material, and I’ve witnessed Roberto in action. He’s insanely talented and cares about telling stories with maximum impact and imagination. I’m eager to share this one with DC fans.”
At this time, DMZ has not been picked up for a full series order. HBO Max is set to launch in May.
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