‘Shazam’ Adds Ian Chen & Jovan Armand As Two Of Billy Batson’s Friends

The cast of David F. Sandberg’s Shazam movie is slowly starting to shape up as the project has made two new additions in the form of Ian Chen and Jovan Armand.

Deadline has revealed that Chen is set to play Eugene while Armand is on board as Pedro. The two are friends of Billy Batson, a kid who has the ability to transform into an adult superhero with the power of six mythological gods after saying the word “Shazam.” It star Jack Dylan Grazer joined the project last week as another one of Billy’s friends and the only person who knows his secret, Freddy Freedman.

Disney star Asher Angel is on board as the young Billy Batson, with Zachary Levi playing the titular superhero. Mark Strong is in talks for the role of the villainous Doctor Sivana, a frequent foe of Shazam who first appeared opposite the superhero in the pages of Whiz Comics back in 1940. Annabelle: Creation actress Grace Fulton has also been cast in the project in an undisclosed role.

Details on the film’s plot are currently unknown, though most tellings of the comic book story depict Billy Batson as an orphan child who is granted the ability to become an adult hero with godlike powers by an ancient Wizard.

Sandberg is directing from a script written by Henry Gayden and Darren Lemke. Production on the project is set to kick off in February of next year.

Shazam! is expected to hit theaters in April 2019.

Source: Deadline