Netflix ‘Warrior Nun’: Alba Baptista to Play Ava, Additional Casting News

Netflix is finally making some headway on their upcoming live-action tv series adaptation of Avatar Press’s own Warrior Nun. We’ve been looking forward to seeing who the streaming giant tapped to star, and we’re pleased to report we know who that is.

Portuguese actress Alba Baptista will be playing Ava, a 19-year-old woman who wakes up in a morgue with a divine artifact embedded in her back. [Hate it when that happens!] Discovering she’s now part of an ancient order, she has been tasked with fighting demons on Earth, and powerful forces representing both heaven and hell want to find and control her. So think Taarna the Tarakian but more like Constantine.

Deadline had the scoop on the additional casting announcements for the series including Toya Turner (Incredibles 2), Tristan Ulloa (Crash Test Aglaé ), Thekla Reuten (Red Sparrow), Kristina Tonteri-Young (The Crocodile’s Gift), Lorena Andrea (Papillon) and Emilio Sakraya (Cold Feet).

They also had some character descriptions:

Turner plays Shotgun Mary, a woman loyal to the sisterhood more than the Church. She escaped family tragedy and was raised with religion but never really took to it fully. Naturally, she has a chip on her shoulder about loyalty. All the nuns know they can count on Mary to have their backs.

Ulloa portrays Father Vincent, the spiritual and strategic leader of the Order of the Cruciform Sword. Behind the Man-of-God persona, he presents a vulnerability that is both disarming and attractive. A veteran of making bad choices, putting on the collar and devoting himself to the Church was trading one addiction for another.

Reuten is Jillian Salvius, CEO of a tech startup who has challenged the Vatican’s power directly by making a discovery that could make religion obsolete. They say there’s a fine line between genius and obsession.

Tonteri-Young plays Young Sister Beatrice, a woman with a quiet Zen strength, Beatrice is a powerful Sister Warrior in her own right. The team’s resident strategist, Beatrice uses her reserved and intuitive nature to analyze everyone and everything around her.

Andrea portrays Sister Lilith, born into an elite family, she is a legacy Nun and committed to her beliefs, which causes her to overstep and over-reach in her entitlement.

Sakraya plays JC, the charismatic leader of a group of alluring petty criminals, running their game all over Europe, getting into trouble and “robbing the rich and giving to themselves.” While most members of the gang are aimless souls, JC has real ambition. He has big plans for his life, but for now, he is committed to living in the moments.

Simon Barry (Ghost Wars, Continuum) will serve as showrunner and executive producer on Warrior Nun, based on Ben Dunn’s original manga. Stephen Hegyes (White Noise, 50 Dead Men Walking) will also serve as EP, along with Amy Berg (Counterpart, Da Vinci’s Demons) as consulting producer, and Terri Hughes Burton (The 100, Eureka) as co-executive producer.

No word on a likely production start or possible release date yet, but we’ll of course let you know what we hear about Warrior Nun.