What is one thing that both Netflix and Marvel Studios always need more of? British acting talent, apparently.
With the streaming giant finding international success again and again with its U.K.-based productions, and Marvel frequently shooting its movies and shows across the pond, the acting community of Great Britain and Ireland has been kept in gainful employment over the past decade or so, and that’s probably not going to change anytime soon either. Just take a look at Netflix’s Fool Me Once or Secret Invasion.
In fact, the smash-hit mystery-thriller series actually features a couple of stars who have already appeared in the MCU as well, although you would be forgiven for forgetting their stints in the Sacred Timeline. What’s more, as Marvel burns through the rest of SAG-AFTRA and Equity (the British actors’ union) for its next round of projects, it might want to keep these three other Fool Me Once cast-members in mind.
Fool Me Once actors who’ve already joined the MCU
Richard Armitage
Richard Armitage is often cited as one of those actors Marvel wasted in a tiny bit-part. Just a year before he was playing the all-important role of Thorin in The Hobbit trilogy, and 13 before he joined the cast of Fool Me Once as Joe, Armitage showed up in Captain America: The First Avenger for a handful of minutes. In his defense, his role as HYDRA undercover agent Heinz Kruger might be small but he is responsible for attempting to stop Steve Rogers’ super-soldier transformation, meaning he’s an integral part of Cap’s origins.
Emmett J. Scanlan
A decade before he creeped us all out for no reason at all as Shane in Fool Me Once (he was just a red herring so why was he such a stalker? We need answers, Netflix!), Emmett J. Scanlan made a brief MCU appearance in 2014’s Guardians of the Galaxy. Scanlan played the Head Riot Guard at space prison the Kyln, who is tortured by Nebula for information on the Guardians’ escape. Scanlan later got to make a bigger impression in the DC multiverse, portraying Lobo in Syfy’s Krypton — a mooted spinoff that would’ve seen him reprise his role failed to get the greenlight.
Fool Me Once actors who should join the MCU
Dino Fetscher
That’s it for Fool Me Once actors who have already been in Marvel — although Charlie Cain, who plays Maya’s nephew Louis, worked in the art department on The Marvels — but there are some other cast-members who would be a great fit for the MCU. First up, Dino Fetscher steals every scene he’s in as Marty McGreggor aka Detective Himbo. Fetscher has such a likeable screen presence and excellent comic timing that he’d be a natural for any upcoming light-hearted Marvel production. e.g. She-Hulk season 2.
Adeel Akhtar
Adeel Akhtar is a Netflix favorite at this point, after his roles in the Enola Holmes films, Sweet Tooth (produced by Marvel’s own Robert Downey Jr.), and both of Adam Sandler’s Murder Mystery movies. Not to mention his recurring part in Killing Eve. Basically, this guy is so prolific that he’s bound to end up in the MCU somewhere sooner or later. If there was any doubt, though, his portrayal of loveably curmudgeonly detective Sam Kierce makes it clear what he could bring to the franchise. Especially if he’s paired up with Fetscher again for round two of their adorable double act.
Hattie Morahan
Hattie Morahan has got to be one of the most prolific, talented and yet underrated character actresses working in the U.K. today. Aside from playing Caroline Burkett in Fool Me Once, you may have seen her as the Enchantress in Disney’s Beauty and the Beast or Netflix’s own Luther: The Fallen Sun, Enola Holmes, and Sex Education. She’s even played a companion of the Doctor in Doctor Who audio dramas. Morahan is equally at home in crime thrillers and sci-fi universes, then, meaning she’d be a delightful addition to some future Marvel project. Thereby allowing a whole new audience to point at the screen like Leonardo DiCaprio and say “Hey! It’s that lady from that thing!”