Jordan Peele and Nia DaCosta’s Candyman has found its lead! Fresh off of Aquaman, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II will star in the film.

This confirmed news comes after reports surfaced in January that Lakeith Stanfield would also star in the film, but not as Candyman, but rather the movie’s protagonist a la Virginia Madsen’s Helen Lyle in the original. The reports of Stanfield’s casting have yet to be confirmed.

Abdul-Mateen has been busy as of late and can be seen next month in Peele’s thriller Us. He’ll also star with Regina King in HBO’s Watchmen series and will appear in the Netflix film All Day and a Night with Ashton Sanders and Jeffrey Wright.

Variety first reported the news of Abdul-Mateen’s casting.

The MGM-set film will release in theaters on June 12, 2020. It will be set in “the now-gentrified section of Chicago where the Cabrini-Green housing projects once stood. DaCosta, who had her feature debut this year with Little Woods starring Tessa Thompson and Lily James, will helm the film. Little Woods debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival this year and will be released this year by NEON. Peele is producing through his Monkeypaw Productions and is also co-writing.

The original 1992 Bernard Rose-directed film was based on a short story by Clive Barker and starred Tony Todd as the Candyman, the son of a slave who became an artist and inventor who was mutilated and killed by his lover’s father using bees. The urban legend, as the film states, is that if you say his name five times in a mirror, he’ll appear and kill the person with the hook that replaces his severed hand.

The film became a success after its release, grossing $25 million with approval from many critics. It has since lived on as a cult horror classic.

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Jordan Peele-Produced ‘Candyman’ Sequel Taps Nia DaCosta As Director, Sets Release Date

 

 

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