Richard Madden says having openly gay superhero in ‘The Eternals’ is ‘hugely important’
The openly gay character has yet to be announced but he will be 'married' with a family
By Steve Brown
Words: Steve Brown
Richard Madden said having an openly gay character in Marvel’s upcoming The Eternals movie is ‘hugely important’.
The Game of Thrones star was announced to be starring as Ikaris in the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe film alongside the likes of Angelina Jolie, Salma Hayek, Gemma Chan, Kumail Nanjiani and Kit Harington.
With one of the most diverse casts in the entire MCU, to add to the excitement Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige revealed there will be an openly gay superhero.
The cast of Marvel Studios’ The Eternals takes the stage at the #D23Expo pic.twitter.com/TR1gYEEq1w
— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) August 24, 2019
Although, the character has yet to be revealed, Feige previously said the male character is “married, he’s got a family, and that is just part of who he is.”
Now, Madden has opened up about being part of the upcoming movie and told Entertainment Tonight that LGBTQ and diverse representation is ‘hugely important’.
He said: “I think it’s hugely important, just the cast is so diverse.
“I’m a white male actor and not in the majority of this cast. I’m the minority, which is important in terms of diversity in filmmaking. I think Marvel are really at the forefront of that.”
He also said he is thrilled to work with Harington again after they both starred in Game of Thrones together.
Madden continued: “Thrilled to work with Kit again.Thrilled to work with Gemma Chan and Angelina Jolie and Salma Hayek and the whole cast, [an] outstanding bunch of actors.”