Rosario Dawson Stars In Trailer For New DC Series
Rosario Dawson takes on the apocalypse!
This article is more than 2 years old
That’s the thing about geek culture: If you are considered a fan favorite, you will always have work—like Rosario Dawson. From Men in Black II to the highly anticipated live-action TV series Ahsoka, she shines in fantasy sci-fi situations, so it is no surprise that the latest DC Comics/HBO Max trailer for DMZ didn’t immediately have everyone searching “post-apocalyptic.”
(Doesn’t Rosario Dawson look fierce in that trailer?) Now, if you are a fan of Vertigo Comics, you know about the concept that takes a lot of inspiration from Escape from New York called DMZ. The initialism for “Demilitarized Zone” comes from a term that became synonymous with military campaigns during the Korean War (1951-1953).
In July 2021, DC Comics announced the Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli tale of Manhattan Island becoming a war zone would become a TV series for HBO Max. The two leads were enough to capture the target audience’s attention—Benjamin Bratt is the big baddie Parco Delgado, the underworld leader in the DMZ. Rosario Dawson will play our heroine, Alma Ortega, who braves life and limb to go back into the zombie-ridden DMZ for her son, who became separated from his mother during the height of the second U.S. Civil War and subsequent mass exodus from Manhattan. And she looks every bit the part!
We see the gamut of Rosario Dawson’s skills ranging from loving mother, concerned citizen, relentless hero, and badass woman of power. And speaking of women who fit that bill, the pilot episode of the HBO Max series was co-written and co-executive produced by Roberto Patino (Westworld, Sons of Anarchy) and none other than Ava DuVernay. She also directed the pilot episode. And if you wince when you see Ava’s name, we feel you. Countless fans are still hurting over Jack Kirby’s New Gods getting the ax before it ever started. DuVernay was going to create the entire thing. However, in an interview with SiriusXM, the Oscar-winning visionary left a door open for future collaboration with DC Comics:
“I loved ‘New Gods,’ which is the project that got axed. The studio decided that they did not want to pursue a certain part of that comic world based on some things going on with another film in that world. So, before I even could kind of complete my script with Tom King, they axed it. It’s been fun to play in that world, even though it’s not the big movie, we’re making some pretty big things with DC.”
Ava DuVernay, November 2021
It looks like she knew something because the turmoil created by Zack Snyder’s Justice League featuring Darkseid at the same time Warner Bros. were going to market New Gods proved to be too complicated for them to manage. One had to go, fans got cheated, but Ava is back with a vengeance because that trailer looked so good! Rosario Dawson goes through hell to get her son back. Good thing she plays a medic because she may need that training. Yes, a medic. You know, again? We have seen the command Dawson can bring to a nerd TV series as a medic already in the Marvel Netflix ventures of Luke Cage, Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and the much-maligned Iron Fist as Claire Temple, private nurse for the protectors of the five boroughs.
She was fantastic in all those TV series centered around geek culture. And Marvel isn’t done with her either. That’s probably because Rosario Dawson has been great in every superhero or science fiction character with which she has been associated, such as Ahsoka Tano, Catwoman (Batman: The Audio Adventures), Wonder Woman (Space Jam: A New Legacy and many DCAU videos like Justice League Dark and Throne of Atlantis), Nevada (Zombieland: Double Tap), Batgirl (The Lego Batman Movie) and the popular Laura Vasquez (Men in Black II).
Look at all those films and TV series, then ask yourself one thing, “Is there any reason to doubt a post-apocalyptic TV series with Rosario Dawson’s name attached to it?” No, there isn’t at all. The cast is up to a diverse collection of 11 proven role actors, including Venus Ariel (NCIS: New Orleans), Jade Wu (Luke Cage), Rey Gallegos (Animal Kingdom), and Henry G. Sanders (Queen Sugar). HBO Max will drop all four beginning episodes at once, March 17.
