At the moment, there’s still no official movement on whether or not Disney or any other studio player is interested in making Alita: Battle Angel’s potential sequel a reality. However, that hasn’t stopped fans of the Robert Rodriguez directed film from trying to make it happen. And today came with a pretty exciting development in the quest to get Alita: Fallen Angel its wings, as Black Panther star Danai Gurira is their choice to play a character that is a part of the Motorball scene in the world of Alita.
This tweet came from the Alita Army Twitter feed, as they were keen on celebrating “Danai Gurira Appreciation Day.” So obviously, after playing such commanding presences as Michonne on AMC’s The Walking Dead, as well as Okoye the Wakandan warrior we last saw in Avengers: Endgame, it feels like the time is right to get Gurira into the mocap meets practical world of Alita: Battle Angel.
Motorballer Zafal Takié, better known to sporting fans as “Crimson Wind,” is the role that fans want Danai Gurira to play in the dream sequel to Alita: Battle Angel. And if this casting was to take place, there could be some potential for further reinvention of Yukito Kisiro’s manga source. On the page, Gurira’s potential role as Zafal Taiké has been described as one of the fastest players in Motorball history, but not very chatty. In fact, it looks like the character has no dialogue at all.
But much as Alita: Battle Angel saw its Motorball arc changed up so it was included in the first of a planned series of films, there’s always room for Danai Gurira’s personality and stage presence to be further built into a cinematic expansion of the Crimson Wind’s character. And considering she gets to go head to head with Jai Courtney’s Jashugan in her arc, his beefed up presence in Alita: Fallen Angel and beyond could mean that Zafal Takié could appear again as well.
Yes, you read that right, again. As it turns out, the Alita Army fans have further speculated that not only is Danai Gurira a good fit for a more substantial introduction of this character to Alita: Battle Angel fans, it looks like Crimson Wind snuck into director Robert Rodriguez’s first installment into the series. You can see the clip that they shared from Alita’s first trip to a Motorball game, in the embed of their previous tweet above.
If Alita: Battle Angel gets its sequel, Robert Rodriguez and James Cameron already have their pitch process, and the world of Alita, down to a science. With volumes worth of story left to tell, and key players like Rosa Salazar, Edward Norton and Michelle Rodriguez ready to return to tell those further chapters, all that needs to happen is for an official greenlight to be issued by whatever party is given the authority. Since the ball’s already in Disney’s court, they may want to consider using Dania Gurira’s position in the Marvel Studios family as a good incentive to casting her as the Crimson Wind in Alita: Fallen Angel. Which, in practice, would be satisfying two wishes of the fandom, as that’d mean we’d be getting a sequel in the first place. But it’s best to take these sorts of things one step at a time.
