Mary J Blige set to play time travelling assassin in Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy

Mary J Blige, two-time Academy Award nominee for Mudbound, has joined the cast of an upcoming Netflix show The Umbrella Academy.

Written by Jeremy Slater based on the popular graphic novels penned by Gerard Way and illustrated by Gabriel Bá, the story follows the estranged members of a dysfunctional family of superheroes as they work together to solve their father’s mysterious death while coming apart at the seams due to their divergent personalities and abilities.

Mary J Blige will play the series regular role of Cha-Cha, a ruthless and unorthodox hit woman who travels through time to kill assigned targets. Even though she has a few gripes about the bureaucracy of her employers, this job is her life. She is sadistic, sociopathic, and her reputation precedes her. Her true love is torture, and she thinks of herself as a “pain artist.” She really doesn’t care for people, except for her partner Hazel.

This marks the biggest TV series commitment to date for Blige, who has done guest starring stints on such shows as Empire and Black-ish. She also starred on NBC’s highly rated production of The Wiz Live! 

The 10-episode series is set to launch on the streaming service sometime this year.