Tatiana Maslany (‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’): This show is ‘so irreverent of any expectations of what a superhero is’ [Exclusive Video Interview]

Rob Licuria
Updated ·4 min read
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“It had everything to do with it,” admits Emmy winner Tatiana Maslany (“Orphan Black”), about the main reason why she wanted to star in “She-Hulk: Attorney at Law.” Portraying Jennifer Walters on the show meant she could upend expectations by giving voice to a woman in her 30s awkwardly navigating her career and personal life, who just so happens to also be a superhero in her spare time. “When I read the first script,” she explains, “it was so funny, so human and so irreverent of any expectations of what a superhero is. I found Jennifer just so infinitely relatable.” Watch our exclusive video interview above.

SEE ‘She-Hulk: Attorney at Law’ reviews: Critics praise Emmy winner Tatiana Maslany’s MCU debut

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“She-Hulk: Attorney at Law” was developed for Disney Plus by showrunner Jessica Gao (“Rick and Morty,” “Silicon Valley”), adapted from the Marvel comics featuring the beloved She-Hulk character. Gao’s version of the “lawyer by day, green giant by night” narrative gives us a more fleshed-out Walters, a vulnerable thirtysomething who endures the hit-or-miss L.A. dating scene and the turmoil of a long day in court representing other superhumans. The comedy kicks into high gear when the diminutive attorney becomes a 6-foot-7-inch green superhuman after being accidentally cross-contaminated with her cousin Bruce Banner’s blood, the original Hulk from the preceding blockbuster MCU films.

The Emmy winning actress leads a huge cast that includes Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Mark Ruffalo, Jameela Jamil, Ginger Gonzaga, Josh Segarra, Mark Linn-Baker, Tess Malis Kincaid, Oscar nominee Tim Roth, Benedict Wong, Tony winner Renée Elise Goldsberry, Jon Bass and Rhys Coiro. “She-Hulk” is the eighth (and final) TV series in Phase Four of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, following the Emmy-nominated “WandaVision,” “The Falcon and the Winter Soldier,” “Loki,” “What If…?” and “Moon Knight,” and recent comedic adaptations “Hawkeye” and “Ms. Marvel.”

While the series serves as an origin story for the She-Hulk character, Maslany loved how it leans into “these beautiful, subtle themes of what it is to inhabit a different body, and to walk into a room and have people have certain expectations of you, or treat you differently, or look at you a certain way, or objectify you in a certain way,” she says. “It’s such delicious territory to dig into,” she adds, noting that what makes the series so compelling and fun is that it explores these themes with wit and humor. “I’d never done comedy before. I grew up doing improv, from a young age. I was doing improv in French, and I was doing improv in high school,” she reveals. “It was my favorite place to be, and my favorite thing to watch, my favorite thing to be part of. But at the same time, I never felt totally like I belonged there,” Maslany divulges about how this project reinforced her love for the artform, and specifically how telling a story through comedy can have such a profound impact. “Humor touches you somewhere. It’s so core to who you are, your sense of humor,” she explains. “If somebody else gets it, that’s where you fall in love. That’s fall in love territory!”

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