BY: Amanda Jane Stern

Who doesn’t love Tessa Thompson? She’s both a badass who can take on roles in significant action franchises and a wonderful comedic and dramatic actor. Her first big break came when she landed the series regular role of Jackie Cook in season 2 of Veronica Mars. While her first feature film role was in the 2006 remake of When a Stranger Calls, it was 2014 that put her on the path to film stardom. That year she got the lead in Justin Simien’s Dear White People and had a crucial supporting character in Ava DuVernay’s Selma. Let’s look at what projects she has coming next.

 

Sylvie’s Love

Set in Harlem in the 1950s, Thompson stars as Sylvie, a young woman who works at her father’s record store. One summer, she has a romance with a saxophonist who takes a summer job at the store. Years later, they reconnect and discover their feelings for each other have not changed. It had its world premiere on January 27, 2020, at the Sundance Film Festival, and Amazon Studios quickly acquired its distribution rights. Sylvie’s Love comes out on Christmas Day 2020.

 

Passing

This upcoming drama marks the writing and directorial debut of actor Rebecca Hall. It is based on the Nella Larsen novel of the same name. Passing follows two childhood best friends, both of whom are mixed race, who reconnect as adults. The renewal of their friendship opens up a Pandora’s Box of sorts, as they each become more and more obsessed with the other’s carefully crafted life.

 

Balestra

Thompson stars in this surrealist thriller about a disgraced competitive fencer named Joanna Bathory. Bathory has dreams of an Olympic comeback, so she throws herself into training. Her husband and coach convince her to get a prototype device that enables her to continue training even while asleep. As her waking hours and dreams begin to blur, she finds herself trapped in a web of her own subconscious.

 

Thor: Love and Thunder

A plot synopsis has not yet been released for Taika Waititi’s follow-up to Thor: Ragnarok. We know that Chris Hemsworth will reprise his role as the titular Thor, and Thompson will return as Valkyrie. It will also mark the return of Natalie Portman’s Jane Foster, who hasn’t been seen since the second Thor film. That’s not all; Portman’s character will take on the Thor mantle.