Lyric Ross, one of the key players in NBC’s hit drama This Is Us, is going Marvel.
Ross has joined Dominique Thorne and Anthony Ramos in Ironheart, Marvel’s Disney+ series featuring the titular Iron Man-adjacent character.
Thorne will star as Riri Williams, a brilliant teenage inventor who, in the comics, builds her own version of the Iron Man suit in an MIT dorm. Williams debuted in 2016’s Invincible Iron Man No. 7 and was created by writer Brian Michael Bendis and artist Mike Deodato. At certain points in the comics, she even takes over for Tony Stark as Iron Man; in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr., heroically died fighting power-mad Thanos in Avengers: Endgame.
Ross will play Williams’ best friend. Ramos’ character is being kept secret, but sources say he could be the show’s villain.
Chinaka Hodge, who served as a staff writer on TNT’s Snowpiercer series, is acting as head writer for Ironheart, which goes before cameras in June in Atlanta.
Ross appeared in shows such as Sirens and Chicago Fire before nabbing the role of Deja Pearson in Us’ second season. Her character became the adopted teen that couple Randall (Sterling K. Brown) and Beth (Susan Kelechi Watson) took in from the foster system. The show is currently in its sixth and final season.
Ross’ work on the show has earned her a Teen Choice Award nomination, three NAACP Image Award nominations and a SAG Award win in 2019 for outstanding performance by an ensemble in a drama series.
Ross, who has coming-of-age teen drama The Class in the can, is repped by Paradigm and Randy James Management.
