Following the finale of The Falcon and The Winter Soldier, I was able to sit down for a short chat with showrunner and Captain America 4 co-writer Malcolm Spellman.
Charles Murphy: “Carl Lumbly was fantastic; stole every scene he was in. What kind of discussions did you have with him in his prep for the role.”
Malcolm Spellman: “Kari prepped the actors and they called me off the first rehearsal. I was getting phone calls like “Oh my God, he just gave us chills. In all honestly, when I saw the audition, that day, he had it. I kinda got choked up watching him just in the audition. That dude was dialed in. He owned that. He’s of a certain age and he owned that in a way that no one could have imagined.”
CM: “If Marvel gave you the call and asked ‘Do you want to work with us on an Isaiah Bradley series?’, you’d be there?”
MS: “Instantly! Instantly!”
There’s no doubt that Lumbly’s emotional performance caused fans across the world to react similarly to Spellman and the Marvel Studios crew. Should Marvel Studios decide to tell more of his story, a series where Bradley tells his story to his grandson, Eli, could feature flashbacks that would make his story feel even more complete.