‘Candyman’ Updates: ‘Beale Street’ Actress Teyonah Parris in Talks, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II May Not Be Playing Candyman After All

Like angry bees swarming around a man covered in honey, the Candyman reboot cast is quickly coming together. Teyonah Parris, who played one of Regina King’s daughters in If Beale Street Could Talk, is the latest addition. She joins Aquaman‘s Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who was previously reported as playing the new Candyman…but that may not be correct after all. Jordan Peele is producing the new movie, while Nia DaCosta directs.

THR broke the news about Teyonah Parris joining the Candyman reboot cast, and in the midst of their report is an interesting new development. Last month, Variety reported that Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who memorably played Black Manta in Aquaman, had been cast as the new Candyman – a story we, and most other film publications, quickly picked up.

But according to THR, Abdul-Mateen II is actually in talks to play “an artist who becomes obsessed with the bloody legend” of Candyman. This was a character that Sorry to Bother You star Lakeith Stanfield was previously in talks to play. But the THR story doesn’t mention Stanfield at all, which suggests his talks fell through, and Abdul-Mateen II is now being eyed for the part.

If true, that means that the new Candyman hasn’t actually cast its Candyman yet, despite Variety’s report. Or there’s perhaps some huge twist in the film where the main character somehow becomes Candyman – but that’s just a wild guess on my part. I’ve reached out to MGM for clarification, and will update accordingly. But this asks another question: if Yahya Abdul-Mateen II is not playing Candyman, and if that role hasn’t been cast yet, is there still hope for the original Candyman actor – Tony Todd – to return?

In any case, Teyonah Parris, who memorably played Ernestine in Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could Talk, is likely to portray the artist character’s girlfriend, who is also an art dealer. The plot of the new film was previously announced as focusing on a “visual artist named Anthony who takes on an interest seeking the legend of the Candyman.” The artist angle certainly fits in with the original series, in which Candyman was revealed to be an artist named Daniel Robitaille. In the first Candyman, released in 1992, Virginia Madsen played a grad student investigating an urban legend surrounding a murderous ghost named Candyman said to haunt the Cabrini-Green projects in Chicago, and who appears if you say his name five times in a mirror. Madsen’s character soon finds out that Candyman is in fact very real, and very deadly.

The new Candyman is said to be both a reboot and a “spiritual sequel” to the original, an approach that sounds similar to Blumhouse’s wildly successful Halloween reboot from last year. Candyman is being written by Jordan Peele and Win Rosenfeld, and Peele will also executive produce. Nia DaCosta, who directed last year’s Little Woods and who is also in talks to helm a Sleeping With the Enemy remake, will direct.

Candyman will appear in 2020.

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