‘AGT’ Comedian Yuriyan Retriever Lands Lead Role in Netflix’s ‘The Queen Of Villains’
Comedian Yuriyan Retriever, who once appeared as a contestant on America’s Got Talent, has landed a lead role in the upcoming Netflix Japan series The Queen of Villains.
According to Deadline, Retriever will play Dump Matsumoto, a professional wrestler who rose to prominence as one of the leading female wrestlers in All Japan Women’s Pro-Wrestling during the 1980s. Matsumoto’s immense popularity led to a boom in women’s wrestling at a time when the sport was male-dominated.
The series will depict Matsumoto’s friendships and fights with companions and foes, tracing her journey as she tries to succeed as a heroic pro wrestler who was nearly fired before becoming the most famous Japanese female wrestler of all time. Matsumoto was the leader of the faction Gokuaku Domei — which included other beloved women wrestlers, Crane Yu, Condor Saito, and Bull Nakano.
Last year, Retriever won the R-1 Grand Prix to earn the title of best single comedy performer in Japan. In 2019, she appeared as a dancer on Season 14 of America’s Got Talent but was eliminated in the audition round. She gained further worldwide recognition in 2020 for portraying Ariana Grande in Naomi Watanabe’s “Rain On Me” parody music video. Retriever has also appeared on multiple seasons of Amazon Prime Video’s comedy competition series Documental.
The Queen of Villains was first revealed as part of the Netflix Japan slate in late 2021, alongside several other scripted shows and reality programming, such as Love Is Blind: Japan. It is written by Junya Ikegami and directed by Kazuya Shiraishi. Shinichi Takahashi serves as executive producer.
The Queen of Villains, 2023, Netflix
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