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After the confirmation that Clark Gregg’s Phil Coulson would be leading the team in the new S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show, it was only a matter of time before more actors joined the cast. And by “only a matter of time”, I mean approximately eleven days. Asian actress Ming-Na has officially joined the cast. Find out who she will be playing after the jump.

Hey look, it’s after the jump! Deadline broke the news earlier this afternoon that Ming-Na has joined the cast of the show, making her the second actor to do so. Na has quite the filmography, with recent TV roles in SGU Stargate Universe, E.R, and the Spawn TV series (remember that?!) On the film side of things, Ming-Na has starred as Chun-Li in the original Street Fighter movie, and as Aki Ross in Final Fantasy: The Spirit Within. But I (and I assume many others) know Ming-Na’s voice more than anything, as she played Mulan in the 1998 film Mulan. And now maybe you might understand the headline, right? Ah screw it, I’ll post the song anyways!

Ah…90’s Disney musicals. Wait, where was I? Oh yeah, S.H.I.E.L.D. According to Deadline, Na will be playing Melinda May, an agent whose “soulful and slightly damaged by her combat experiences, Melinda is an ace pilot, a weapons expert and a soldier who can — and has — gone beyond the call of duty. . Yeah…that seems about right. It’s kind of strange that such a kickass role is going to a 50 year old Asian Woman, but still pretty refreshing at the same time. And I really like Ming-Na, so I’m hoping she gets a nice juicy role here. And by the way, this seems to be a slight diversion from the character Althea Rice in the original character breakdown. Why it was changed is unknown—and then again, maybe it wasn’t. It’s entirely possible that May was always the intended character, and that Althea Rice was just a cover. Either way, it doesn’t really matter.

This is just the first (err…second) of what’s to be many casting announcements for this show, so stay tuned to Geek Binge as the S.H.I.E.L.D. TV show approaches the filming of its pilot.

-Matthew