Rosario Dawson Will Star In Ava DuVernay's 'DMZ' TV Series For HBO Max

Director/executive producer Ava DuVernay (13th, Selma) has found the star of DMZ, her upcoming HBO Max adaptation of the Vertigo comic book series. Rosario Dawson (Rent, Unstoppable) will lead the streaming series, and you can learn details about her character below. 

The Hollywood Reporter first broke the Rosario Dawson DMZ news, revealing Dawson as the first cast member of the forthcoming series. The show, based on the Vertigo comic by Brian Wood and Riccardo Burchielli, is set in the aftermath of a second Civil War, where Manhattan is a demilitarized zone (hence the DMZ of the title) between the two sides of the battle.

Dawson will play Alma, "a fierce medic who saves lives while desperately searching for her lost son. As she contends with the gangs, militias, demagogues and warlords who now control the lawless island, she becomes the unlikely source of what everyone there has lost: hope." DuVernay is set to executive produce the series, and she'll direct the pilot as well. Roberto Patino (Westworld, The Bastard Executioner, the upcoming Fear Street) is executive producing and serving as the showrunner.

Dawson may not be the first person who comes to mind when the topic of comic book adaptations arises, but she's been a part of several big ones in her career. As the current comic book movie boom was getting underway with Blade, X-Men, and Spider-Man, she starred in Josie and the Pussycats – originally an Archie Comics title. Then she showed up in Men in Black II (also based on a comic), was part of the ensemble cast of the visually groundbreaking Sin City, reprised that role over a decade later in Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, and began lending her voice to several DC Animation movies and The LEGO Batman Movie.

And of course, DMZ won't mark the first time she'll play a medical professional in a comic-book TV adaptation: Dawson starred in the Marvel Netflix shows – Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, Luke Cage, and The Defenders – as nurse Claire Temple before all of those series were unceremoniously cancelled.

Dawson's next leading role will be in the USA series Briarpatch from Mr. Robot creator Sam Esmail (that show debuts next month). She's always a solid presence on screen, so I'm happy to see her take center stage in another high profile series like DMZ. The question is: in the era of Peak TV, and with even more streaming services looming, will anyone actually watch this show?