Janella Salvador is ‘Ang Babaeng Ahas’ — the Valentina to Jane de Leon’s Darna
After many speculations, it has been revealed that Janella Salvador will be playing the iconic role of the arch-enemy of Darna, Ang Babaeng Ahas, Valentina.
Clues to this have been dropped before. They stated that the role will be assumed by an actress with a name starting with the letter “J”. It is also said that this will serve as her comeback to television shows.
It’s quite obvious but it’s clear as day that they’ve been talking about Janella all along.
Valentina, the iconic supervillain
Ang Babaeng Ahas is created by Filipino comics legends Mars Ravelo and Nestor Redondo in the 1950s. Valentina first appeared in the second episode of the comic series.
There is no definite origin story for the villainess. However, what has remained her consistent characteristic throughout the years is having similarities with the mythological creature, Medusa. Just like the gorgon, she also has the hair of snakes and also has power over them.
However, she doesn’t seem to have the ability to turn people into stone just with her gaze.
Throughout the years, the role has been played by many talented actresses. Christina Aragon in a 1951 Darna film, Celia Rodriguez in 1973’s Lipad, Darna, Lipad!, Melissa Perez Rubio in the film, Valentina of 1989, Pilar Pilapil in a 1991 Darna film, and many more.
The several actresses who almost played the role of Darna
The Darna movie project started with Angel Locsin in 2015 with director Erik Matti. Angel backed out because of a back injury and passed on the role to Liza Soberano.
Unfortunately, the actress who dawned the iconic superhero, Liza Soberano, suffered a finger injury while shooting her primetime series Bagani. This led to her backing out of the project as well.
To everyone’s delight, in July 2019, Star Cinema made an exciting announcement. Managing director Olivia Lamasan announced that Jane De Leon will be taking over the role.
Fast forward to 2020 when the pandemic hit the world and ABS-CBN lost its franchise, the network decided to make the Darna project a TV series instead.
Aside from Jane de Leon, Iza Calzado also joined the cast as the mother of the superhero and the former Darna.
As of writing, the premiere for the show has not been announced. But we’re sure as hell that we’re excited about it. I can’t wait to see the two iconic female characters battle it out in our television screens once again.
