Netflix and Marvel’s Luke Cage is in the middle of a casting frenzy. Some months after Mike Colter was hired for both Luke Cage and Jessica Jones, Marvel is finally expanding the rest of the roles for the series, and today the show has added a popular character actor to take on a new role. Pulp Fiction, Broken Arrow and Ray Donovan actor Frank Whaley has been signed on to Luke Cage in a recurring role. He’ll be playing a comic book character known as Detective Scarfe. I’m not sure if Whaley’s real last name or this character’s last name is more fun to say.
Anyone familiar with the Luke Cage comics may already know a little bit about Scarfe, but there’s no telling if Netflix’s drama will stick to a similar storyline. For now, the only thing we know about the show’s version of the character is that he will be “a hard-nosed detective,” according to Deadline. In the comics, Detective Scarfe’s Christian name is Rafael or “Rafe” and he’s a valuable asset to assist the Heroes for Hire. Hopefully, he’ll have a similar role on the show.
Scarfe’s been a known character for some time, first appearing in a 1975 comic called Marvel Premiere (#23). Interestingly, Scarfe also has contact with some of Marvel’s other comic characters, including Daredevil, who also has his own series over at Netflix that just so happens to be getting a second season. I’m not saying we’ll see the two characters interact, but just the fact the world Marvel and Netflix is building offers so many opportunities to cross over totally tickles my fancy. And if you aren’t already excited about the interconnectivity between the Netflix shows, you should really try to get to that point.
Whaley’s a pretty exciting catch for the series, but he’s not the only big name who has been signed on to Luke Cage at this point. A week ago, the show announced that Sons of Anarchy’s Theo Rossi also signed on to play a character called “Sonny,” presumed to be comic character Shades. Actress Simone Missick is reportedly playing Misty—and Scarfe just so happens to be Misty Knight’s ex-partner. Finally, Mahershala Ali has been confirmed to be playing Cottonmouth Stokes.
With all of this intriguing casting news, it’s easy to be excited about the upcoming Luke Cage series, but we will still have a while to wait. While other drama Jessica Jones is expected to premiere on Netflix before the end of the year, Luke Cage won’t pop up until 2016 sometime. For now, here’s a list of all the fall TV premiere dates.
