Tessa Thompson Hopes Creed 3 Sparks ASL Interest And More Deaf Representation

"Creed III" marks the first movie in the "Rocky" franchise not to feature Sylvester Stallone as Rocky Balboa. So far, most of the discourse surrounding the upcoming sequel has pertained to Stallone's criticism of the film's existence, with the actor claiming that he'll never watch it. However, the saga will press ahead with Michael B. Jordan and Tessa Thompson leading the charge, and they hope "Creed III" sparks more interest in deaf representation.

In the "Creed" film series, Thompson plays a character named Bianca. She's a musician who lives with progressive hearing loss, something that Jordan's title character learns when he meets her. The two eventually fall in love and give birth to a daughter, Amara, who inherits her mother's condition.

"Creed III" is set years after the events of the last movie, and one of the storylines will explore the couple's life as parents. This will include them interacting with their daughter through American Sign Language (ASL), which Thompson and Jordan both learned in preparation for the movie. Thompson recently spoke about the experience in an interview and talked about her desire to see more people show a keen interest in ASL.

During a recent interview with "Good Morning America," Tessa Thompson discussed learning ASL for "Creed III" and how it's incorporated into the story. ASL is just one of the ways the characters communicate with each other in the film, and it doesn't define Amara's personality. At the same time, Thompson believes that this type of representation in movies is long overdue, and she hopes the sequel raises more awareness in regard to ASL.

"It's a beautiful language, I'm so happy to have gotten the opportunity to learn," she said. "I think we live in a world that's very biased toward the hearing community, and I think that has to do with the fact that there isn't just enough representation. And so, I think to get to see a deaf character in their humanity, just who they are, I think is hugely impactful."

Thompson concluded by saying that she also hopes that the film makes people show a keener interest in the deaf community, and inspires some viewers to learn sign language.