“Luke Cage” star Theo “Shades” Rossi says he's “never seen anything” like reaction to show's second season

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Cara Howe/Netflix(NEW YORK) — Last Friday, the second season of Marvel’s Luke Cage premiered on Netflix, and believe it or not, many fans are already on their second viewing. 

Since today is National Sunglasses Day, what better time to check in with Theo Rossi, who plays Hernan Enrique Salazar “Shades” Alvarez on the series?

Rossi tells ABC Radio he can’t believe the reaction to Luke Cage’s sophomore season.

“I’ve never seen something like this,” Rossi says. “You know, Friday, midnight, we went on…and you know, with social media now, everything’s in like real time. I’m getting hit up, it feels like, over a thousand times a day of people being like, ‘I’m on my second watch!'”

“I’m like, ‘How did you watch 13 episodes already?'” he continues. “This is how fast the lifecycle[s] are of these shows — people just get right through ’em!”

In the show’s first season, Rossi’s Shades was a henchman. In season two, he’s a more dynamic character who takes some dramatic turns. The New York City native actor says watching online reaction to his character’s journey has been wild.

“What’s funny is people comment in real time,” he explains. “So…after the first episode they made a comment. After the second, in the way our season works this year — especially my character — it changes so much…If you’re following this, it’s like, ‘Oh! I didn’t know that!’ ‘Oh my God!’ ‘I didn’t see that…Oh my God, now I love him!’ ‘Oh, is he a villain? ‘Is he good?'”

“So that’s what’s so crazy,” Rossi adds. “And this is 190 countries all over the world. So, it’s bananas.”

Luke Cage, which stars Mike Colter as bulletproof “Hero for Hire” Luke Cage, also features Alfre Woodard, Simone Missick, and Rosario Dawson.

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