There’s a new hook-handed villain in Cabrini-Green. Well, it’s the same villain. He’s just got a different look. Variety reports that Yahya Abdul-Mateen II — who recently appeared as Black Manta in James Wan’s Aquaman — has been cast to play the titular role in Nia DaCosta’s forthcoming Candyman film, an iconic character created by Tony Todd for Bernard Rose’s 1992 original. DaCosta’s movie, produced by Jordan Peele and dubbed a “spiritual sequel” to the first one, takes place in the Chicago neighborhood once known as Cabrini-Green, which has been transformed by gentrification since first appearing in Rose’s film. So if the new Candyman — the son of a slave who was killed in the 1800s by a lynch mob for having a relationship with a white woman — is still stalking the old neighborhood, does that mean he will be terrorizing a bunch of trendy white folks this time around instead of a poor black community? Beware the man with the hook for a hand while you’re out shopping for you artisan toasts, everyone!
