Parris joining Abdul-Mateen in Candyman, title role still open?

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

It looks like the trades might have tricked the internet last week with the terminology used to announce the casting of AQUAMAN's Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in the new CANDYMAN project that's in the works at MGM. Referring to his character as the star of the film made it seem like he was replacing Tony Todd in the title role. A new report from The Hollywood Reporter says that's not the case. According to them, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is in negotiations to play 

an artist who becomes obsessed with the bloody legend of the Candyman, a murdered son of a slave who is now a supernatural killer.

That artist character is the same one we heard Lakeith Stanfield was in talks to play a while back, so apparently it didn't work out with him for some reason.

Along with this clarification comes the news that Teyonah Parris, who recently starred in the Oscar-nominated film IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK (her co-star Regina King did win an Oscar for her performance), is also in negotiations to join the cast of CANDYMAN. The image of her above comes from the film CHI-RAQ. If her deal is closed, she'll be playing the artist's girlfriend, who works as an art dealer.

This film has been described as a "spiritual sequel" to the 1992 CANDYMAN – and there's speculation that the artist character might even be the baby from the original film, now nearing his thirties. The fact that they chose to make the character an artist is also interesting, because the previous films have established that Candyman was an artist himself, back before his supernatural killer days.

GET OUT's Jordan Peele has written the screenplay for the new CANDYMAN with Win Rosenfeld, and the pair are producing the film with Ian Cooper through Peele's company Monkeypaw Productions. Adam Rosenberg and Tabith Shick are overseeing the project for MGM, and that company is producing and financing. Universal will be handling domestic theatrical distribution.

Nia DaCosta is set to direct the film, which is scheduled for a June 12, 2020 release.