She-Hulk star Tatiana Maslany explains how playing She-Hulk reminds her of shooting Orphan Black. Maslany plays the main character, She-Hulk/Jennifer Walters, in the upcoming Marvel series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. The series focuses on a woman in her 30s who navigates her double life as an attorney and as a 6’7” tall green superpowered Hulk. She-Hulk also stars Mark Ruffalo, Jameela Jamil, Tim Roth, John Segarra, and Ginger Gonzaga.
Before She-Hulk, Maslany was most known for her roles in the BBC series Orphan Black. On that show, Maslany played Sarah Manning, a woman who, after witnessing an exact doppelganger of herself walk in front of a train, discovers that she is a clone. Over the course of Orphan Black’s five seasons, Maslany portrayed a remarkable 14 different clones. Maslany won an Emmy for her work in Orphan Black and was nominated for two others.
Maslany says that her role in She-Hulk recalls some of the skills she developed with Orphan Black. Speaking with Screen Rant on the Marvel press line at SDCC 2022, she compared the two projects. Maslany discussed how though Jennifer Walters is still the same person when “she becomes She-Hulk,” Jen “does occupy two completely different bodies.” The actress said that in some ways, the role then felt like “a bit of an extension of Orphan Black,” for it brought up similar themes of “identity and perception and aesthetics,” even though Jennifer Walters has the same “consciousness” as She-Hulk. Check out the full quote from Maslany below:
“Obviously, Jen's consciousness stays the same when she becomes She-Hulk. She never loses sense of who she is. But she does occupy two completely different bodies, so that was really fun to me. I'm always curious about identity and perception and aesthetics and all of that. To get to explore that feels like a bit of an extension of Orphan Black, for sure.”
While Maslany’s Orphan Black days have long passed at this point, it is fascinating to see how this iconic performance affects her Marvel role today. Though the actress has been in a number of other TV shows and movies, Orphan Black is by far her most well-known performance. In that show, she seamlessly transitioned between playing the different clones, even nailing performances where she acted as one clone playing another clone in the world of the show. This experience, which involved her to master different accents, tones of voice, and body posture and body language, hopefully will make her transition to She-Hulk more convincing. Maslany herself recognizing some of the similarities already bodes well for her ability to harness the great aspects of her Orphan Black performance for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.
Perhaps fans of Orphan Black may be able to notice these common threads between Maslany’s acting tactics in Orphan Black and She-Hulk when the show premieres on Disney+. So far, a lot of the early press regarding She-Hulk has been criticisms of the unconvincing green CGI. With Maslany’s interview, the actress offers a more positive look on She-Hulk, with one that bodes well for her potential performance. Audiences will soon be able to witness this performance themselves as She-Hulk: Attorney at Law releases on Disney+ on August 17, 2022.
