Tessa Thompson would not have felt comfortable if her Creed character became completely deaf.

In the boxing franchise, the actress plays Bianca, a singer/music producer who suffers from progressive hearing loss and uses hearing aids, with Thompson learning American Sign Language (ASL) for the role.

Speaking to Complex to promote Creed III, Thompson explained that she never wanted Bianca’s condition to progress too far over the course of the trilogy because she believes a deaf character should be played by a deaf actor.

“It was always important to me, even in her having progressive hearing loss, that in the context of our films, her hearing loss would not progress all the way,” she said. “I did not feel comfortable in telling that story. I’m not a member of the Deaf community. And I really felt like if we wanted to tell that story, we should do it with someone who is a part of that community.”

In Creed III, Bianca and Michael B. Jordan’s character Adonis ‘Donnie’ Creed are now parents to a deaf daughter named Amara, played by young deaf actress Mila Davis-Kent, meaning they both had to learn more ASL.

Addressing her new co-star, Thompson added, “It’s been so incredible to invite Mila and also she is just so astoundingly good and so fearless, and so fantastic and funny and dynamic and charismatic and all those things. So, it’s also just exciting. Never mind the representation part, which is huge, but just to get to support a new performer in what is their introduction. That’s so cool.”

Creed III is in cinemas now.

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