James R | On 03, Sep 2015

Sons of Anarchy’s Theo Rossi has joined the cast of Netflix’s next Marvel series, Luke Cage.

The casting, confirmed by The Hollywood Reporter, will see the actor, familiar to fans of Kirt Sutter’s FX series as Juan Carlos “Juice” Ortiz, play the villain of the piece: Shades, who also goes by the name Alvarez, a well-known criminal.

Marvel describes Shades as “relentless and menacing, smooth and manipulative, street smart and controlling”.

The third Marvel series for Netflix, executive produced by Cheo Hodari Coker, stars Mike Colter as Cage, a wrongly accused man who obtains superstrength after a sabotaged experiment and escapes prison to become a superhero for hire.

The series is the next step in Netflix’s gradually-building world of Hell’s Kitchen superheroes, following Marvel’s Daredevil (which premieres on 10th April) and Jessica Jones, in which Cage will make his first appearance.

Rossi will join Rosario Dawson (pictured above) in the show, as the Daredevil actress reprises her role as Claire Temple. The doctor, who first appeared in Daredevil, will also feature in Jones before moving with Colter to his standalone adventure. In the comics, she is a love interest for Luke Cage, although Temple has already been romantically entangled on-screen with Daredevil.

The announcement follows reports that Alfre Woodard (True Blood) is in talks to appear in the series. If officially cast, Woodward will play a lead character called Minetta, “a powerful woman in local politics who will have an impact on Luke Cage’s life”.

Photo: Barry Wetcher / Netflix, Inc. All rights reserved.

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