- Maria Bakalova wants to continue playing Princess Ilana in the DCU
- The Creature commands star says she “wants to see her exist” in another James Gunn project
- Bakalova’s comments come after the blood-soaked Season 1 finale involving Ilana
Maria Bakalova has expressed her desire to continue playing Princess Ilana in the DC Universe (DCU), even though it’s incredibly unlikely the character will return.
I speak exclusively to Ny Breaking in advance Creature commandsIn the season 1 finale, Bakalova admitted she wasn’t ready to say goodbye to Pokolistan’s soon-to-be monarch. However, considering what happens in the seventh episode of season 1, titled “A Very Funny Monster,” Bakalova’s desire to continue playing Ilana seems like a pipe dream.
Full spoilers ahead immediately Creature commands season 1 episode 7!
In the last few minutes of the final chapter of this season, which you can read about in more detail in Creature commands season 1 ends explained article, Ilana is murdered in cold blood by The Bride. Minutes earlier, Ilana had committed her own murder, with the Pokolistani royal family member killing Nina Mazursky, also known as one of the members of the titular team and the closest thing The Bride had to a friend. As Baklova told me, Ilana took Nina’s life “to protect herself” after Nina attempted to kill Ilana under the instructions of ARGUS chief and Task Force M handler Amanda Waller.
Okay, but why was the eponymous group tasked with killing Ilana? Recall that in the fourth episode of the Max series, the Amazon sorceress Circe Waller warned – as a premonition – that Ilana wanted to conquer planet Earth and turn Pokolistan into a tyrannical global superpower.
That plot twist in episode 4, which also reveals the DCU’s Justice League for the first time (albeit dead at the hands of Pokolistan’s forces), completely changed viewers’ perception of Ilana. It’s a moment that Bakalova previously told me was “an interesting reveal” for Ilana’s evolution as a character, which is an understated way to describe Ilana’s heel turn.
Unfortunately, it seems we will never know why Ilana had plans for world domination, nor what drove her to become such a diabolical individual. That said, characters in comic books and their multimedia adaptations – DC or otherwise – tend to come back to life in some form or another. So there’s no reason why Ilana couldn’t return, even if it’s in a flashback sequence in the recently announced movie. Creature commands season 2 or any other DCU Chapter One project.
That’s the hope Bakalova clings to. When I actually asked the Borat 2 and Marvel star (she voiced Cosmo Guardians of the Galaxy 3) If there was ever a situation—via an earlier script or a conversation with DC Studios co-head James Gunn—where her femme fatale-turned-wannabe-dictator could have survived, Bakalova confirmed that was not the case was. However, she hasn’t given up hope of voicing Ilana again in the future.
“I’m going to be completely transparent,” Bakalova said. “I want her to continue in the future. As an actor, I want to continue playing this role, and I’m very interested to see how audiences react to that (Ilana’s death). If viewers want to see more of her, maybe that’s a reason to talk about it (her return) and if not, maybe I should just sit tight! We make these shows for people, so it’s important to listen to their opinions.
As for what Bakalova would like to explore if one of the Max shows’ most notable original characters is brought back in some guise, the actor said: “I want to know how she ended up being who she is today, why she wants that. ” destroying the world, and why she wants so much power. What drives someone to have such evil dreams of world domination? What drove her to become such a monster in her early life?
“At the end of the day, she’s the biggest monster of all on the show,” she continued. “The Creature Commandos are monsters by circumstance or by the way they look. Ilana is a beautiful, seemingly innocent human who commits monstrous acts of violence. Why is that? I’d like to find out in the future, if James ever finds out om asks if I come back, whether it’s for one episode, a whole season, or even just a cameo, I would just do it.