Originally published November 13, 2017. Updated November 12, 2017.
Last month it was announced that Syfy had given a pilot order to Deadly Class, an adaptation of Rick Remender and Wes Craig’s Image Comics series, and now the network has announced details of the cast for the TV series, along with their character descriptions (via Deadline):
Benedict Wong is set for the series regular role of Master Lin, the headmaster of the School for the Deadly Arts. Deadly and feared. He’s an ever-changing chameleon who keeps his students desperate for his approval.
Benjamin Wadsworth will play Marcus. At one point we were all Marcus, an awkward outcast full of social anxiety struggling to find his place in the cold and brutal world of high school. Marcus is bottled rage, if his life had been normal this kid might have been an artist, even a poet. Instead he’s had to survive life on the streets of San Francisco. His eyes show it. He’s morally centered in an unethical world.
Lana Condor will play Saya, mysterious and guarded with a deadly reputation. Saya was banished from one of the top Yakuza clans in Japan, sent to the School for the Deadly Arts to redeem herself. Driven to be the valedictorian, nothing will stand in her way.
Maria Gabriela de Faria is set for Maria. One minute Maria’s an extrovert and an exhibitionist, a tornado of ever changing emotions—fierce, charming, beautiful and oozing femininity — the next she’s murderous, feral, and crippled by rage. At the School for the Deadly Arts her instability is treated like a super power.
Luke Tennie will play Willie, a hardened gangster, but underneath is an honest and thoughtful person who would rather be reading comic books and listening to music than engaging in blood work. Forced by his mother, leader of an LA gang, into the School for the Deadly Arts, he is under endless pressure to become the thing he hates most.
Liam James is set to play Billy, skater punk, son of a corrupt cop and now a misfit at the school. He’s off kilter and high energy. Billy combats every situation with sarcasm and humor. Always a glimmer of mischief in his eye.
Michel Duval will play Chico, scary, muscular, son of a cartel drug lord. Everyone knows not to mess with Chico. The only one who can hurt him is his girlfriend.
In addition to the above,t he series will also star Henry Rollins (Sons of Anarchy) will recur as Jürgen Denke, Taylor Hickson (Aftermath) as Petra, Siobhan Williams (UnREAL) as Brandy, Jack Gillett (Storker) as Viktor, Sean Depner (Last Night in Suburbia) as Lex and Ryan Robbins (Pure) as Rory.
Set against the backdrop of 80s counterculture, Deadly Class is described as “a unique coming-of-age journey [which] follows a disillusioned teen recruited into a storied high school for assassins. Maintaining his moral code while surviving a ruthless curriculum, vicious social cliques and his own adolescent uncertainties may prove fatal.”
Adam Targum (Banshee) set to serve as showrunner on Deadly Class as well as executive producing with Joe and Anthony Russo (Avengers: Infinity War), Mike Larocca (Spy) and Lee Toland Krieger (The Age of Adaline). The script has been penned by comic book writer Remender, along with Miles Feldsott.
