Mary J. Blige, the R&B singer and Academy Award nominee (Mudbound), is joining the cast of Umbrella Academy. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Blige will be playing Cha-Cha, the time traveling assassin who is contracted by Temps Aeternalis to kill Number Five. Hazel, her partner, has not been cast yet.
Umbrella Academy, by Gerard Way and Gabriel Ba, follows a dysfunctional family of superheroes who work to solve their father’s mysterious death while also dealing with conflicts of their powers and personalities.
Way will be a co-executive producer, with Steve Blackman (Fargo) as the showrunner and executive producer, alongside Bluegrass Television, and Mike Richardson and Keith Goldberg from Dark Horse. The show will star Tom Hooper, Emmy Raver-Lampman, David Castaneda, Robert Sheehan, Aidan Gallagher, and Ellen Page.
Set for 10-episodes, the show began production in January, but an air date has not been announced yet.