Fancast Friday: Iris West
Hey Blerds and Blerdettes and welcome to another Fancast Friday, this week the character that I’ll be fancasting is none other than Iris West-Allen. The reason that I chose to fancast Iris is because I’ve noticed a little bit of a stir in the nerd community this week with rumors circulating that Imogen Poots may be cast in the role for the DCEU’s Flash film. The stir centers around the fact that on The Flash tv show Iris West is played by a black actress, the beautiful and talented Candice Patton, and for many black and non-black people of color they’ve come to see Iris and the West family as black. So a portion of the online nerd community, myself included, wants a black actress to be cast in the role and the other portion believes that since Iris is and was originally white in the comics that it shouldn’t matter what race she is cast in the films, but that’s an article for another time.
With so many talented young black actresses out there it wasn’t hard to find a handful of them that I would love to see take on the role of Iris West-Allen. So here are my top four choices for the role of Iris West-Allen in Warner Brothers and DC Comics’ film The Flash.
4. Sonequa Martin-Green
Anyone who has seen The Walking Dead knows Sonequa as Sasha Williams and should be able to attest to the fantastic actress that she is. Sonequa has a smile that could light up a room and a voice and presence that just seems like a joy to be near. After watching last weeks episode of New Girl it was then that I began to see her as Iris West because this episode showed a side of her that I’d never seen….the jokester. Sonequa has it all beauty, talent, humor, and something not too many actors have the ability to perfectly handle both drama and comedy.
3. Keke Palmer
Over the years Keke Palmer has proven that she can do it all starting out as a child actor and continuing her success until adulthood as an actor and singer. Over the course of her career, Keke has tackled both drama and comedy flowing in and out of both seamlessly. On last years hit tv show Scream Queens, Palmer played Zayday Williams adding a splash of horror to her resume and further proving that she’s a jack of all trades. As you’ve probably guessed from the other picks above being able to balance comedy and drama is in my opinion important for the role of Iris because it allows the actress to compliment Ezra Miller’s natural style as well as for him to compliment her.
2. Amber Stevens
I chose Amber Stevens because the majority of what I’ve seen her in has been comedies and I’ve absolutely loved her and her characters in each and every one of them. She has great comedic timing, is a pretty nice actress, and she just feels like Iris to me. Wonderfully supportive, confident, and a smile that’s infectious.
1. Kat Graham
As an avid fan of The Vampire Diaries when I began to think of who I wanted to play Iris West-Allen alongside Ezra Miller literally the first person that popped into my head was Kat Graham. Over the course of 7 seasons, I’ve seen not only Kat’s character Bonnie develop, but also Kat developed as an actress. I’ve seen her perform amazing scenes of heartbreak, strength, and happiness as well as be quite the witty performer. To say that I am a huge fan of Kat Graham would be an understatement because she really is such a great actress, not to mention a pretty great singer as her debut album Roxbury Drive proves. Out of all the actresses that I’ve chosen I can honestly say that Kat Graham is the one that I truly hope ends up playing Iris West.
