According to Eternals producer Nate Moore, Captain Marvel's comics-accurate portrayal of Minn-Erva helped clear the way for Gemma Chan to be cast as Sersi in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film.
Chan played the blue-skinned Kree sniper and Starforce member Minn-Erva in Carol Danvers' solo MCU movie prior to signing on for Eternals. “Sersi was a character that we took a long time to find,” Moore admitted during an Eternals set visit attended by the Toronto Sun. “We read Gemma and she was perfect for us. But, you know, I think if Minn-Erva’s not blue, I don’t know if we would have pulled that trigger.”
Indeed, Sersi is the rare instance of an actor playing a different MCU role than the one they portrayed in a previous MCU film. What's more, Chan has indicated that Marvel Studios President/Chief Creative Officer Kevin Feige took a direct role in recruiting her for Eternals. "... I encountered Kevin Feige during the awards circuit for Crazy Rich Asians and out of the blue, he just came up and said, 'We'd love to have you back,'" said Chan in December 2020. "I'm going to paraphrase really badly, but I guess he'd seen [Captain Marvel] and said, 'We'd love to make better use of you. We'd just love for you to come back. We want you to do something else so let's find that project.'"
Feige, for his part, has likened Chan's Eternals casting to the MCU's Steve Rogers/Captain America actor Chris Evans playing Johnny Storm/Human Torch in the non-MCU Fantastic Four movies produced by Fox in the 2000s. "I can go back to Chris Evans being on the list for Captain America, and some people said, 'Oh, well, he played the Human Torch [in 2005's Fantastic Four]. Maybe we shouldn't consider him,'" said Feige in a previous interview. "And we said, 'No, that's okay,' and the rest is history."
Joining Chan is one of the more inclusive MCU movie casts to date in Eternals, including Richard Madden, Salma Hayek, Kumail Nanjiani, Brian Tyree Henry, and Lauren Ridloff. "When we kind of met each other and had worked together for a bit, we realized that we'd been cast... that there were elements of each of us in our characters and that's why we were cast," said Chan at the Eternals world premiere. "So, you know, it is diversely cast but it doesn't feel tokenistic."
Eternals opens in theaters on Nov. 5. Carol Danvers will return to the screen when The Marvels premieres Feb. 17, 2023.
Source: Toronto Sun