Metal Lords Cast & Character Guide

Netflix’s comedy-drama Metal Lords boasts a cast of talented newcomers, veteran actors, and cameos by members of famous heavy metal bands. Game of Thrones’ creators D. B. Weiss and David Benioff produced the film, with Rage Against The Machine’s Tom Morello contributing as the executive music producer. Metal Lords was released on Netflix on Friday, April 8.

Metal Lords follows high schoolers Kevin and Hunter, who wish to compete at their school’s Battle of the Bands but are missing a bassist. The only person that seems interested in joining their band is cellist Emily, who Kevin is dating, but Hunter doesn’t believe she would fit with them as her image doesn’t seem “metal” enough. This causes a rift between the two friends, especially after Hunter uses a class presentation to intimidate Emily into leaving them alone, causing her to have a crisis.

The Netflix Original is a coming-of-age story centering on Kevin, Hunter, and Emily that doubles as a love letter to metal as a musical genre. It’s directed by Peter Sollett and sees Game of Thrones and Westworld soundtrack composer Ramin Djawadi return to compose the film’s music. Here’s the cast of Metal Lords, the characters they play, and where you may have seen the actors before.

Adrian Greensmith As Hunter

Adrian Greensmith plays Hunter Sylvester, Kevin’s best friend and guitarist of Skullf*cker, the band he founded with Kevin. Hunter seems to have a poor relationship with both his father and his peers, especially as he’s often harassed by Skip Hoffman, the school bully. This is the first acting role for Greensmith, who will play Arthur Spindell on Amazon’s thriller TV show Shelter.

Jaeden Martell As Kevin

Jaeden Martell stars as Kevin Schlieb, Hunter’s best friend who plays the drums in their band. Rather than being enamored with metal like Hunter is, he only plays and learns about it because of Hunter’s love for it. Martell is known for playing Jacob Thrombey in Rian Johnson’s Knives Out and Bill Denbrough in 2017’s It, based on the novel of the same name by Stephen King. Martell also appeared in various TV shows, including Masters of Sex and, more recently, Defending Jacob.

Isis Hainsworth As Emily

Isis Hainsworth plays Emily Spector, cellist and clarinet player in the school band. After hearing her play the cello, Kevin tries to convince Hunter to accept Emily in their band as a bassist, although Hunter is adamantly against it at first. Hainsworth has mostly appeared in TV shows, including The Victim and Harlots. On the big screen, Hainsworth is known to have played Elizabeth Martin in Autumn de Wilde’s Emma. and Jenny in Misbehaviour.

Brett Gelman As Dr. Sylvester

Brett Gelman stars as Dr. Sylvester, Hunter’s absent father. He provides Hunter with everything he needs money-wise, but he doesn’t seem to be particularly involved in his life. Gelman’s acting career is vast, but he’s more recently known for playing Murray Bauman in Stranger Things. He also starred in Fleabag, Twin Peaks, American Dad! and Love.

Metal Lords’ Supporting Cast & Characters

Phelan Davis as Skip – Skip Hoffman is the school bully who often harasses Hunter. Davis has appeared in American Vandal and Portlandia.

Noah Urrea as Clay – Clay is the singer of the pop band playing at the party where Hunter and Kevin realize there will be a Battle of the Bands that year at school. Urrea appeared on The Fosters and The Kicks, but he’s mostly known for being part of Now United.

Joe Manganiello as Dr. Nix – Manganiello plays a doctor at the rehab center where Dr. Sylvester brings Hunter. He’s also a member of the band Kiloton, which Hunter loves. Manganiello appeared in How I Met Your Mother as Brad, One Day At A Time, and True Blood.

Rob Holford as himself – Judas Priest’s lead vocalist appears as a figment of Kevin’s imagination to guide him in making the right choice at a party. Other than playing with Judas Priest, Holford also collaborated with Fight and 2wo.

Tom Morello as himself – Other than being the executive music producer for Metal Lords, Morello also appears alongside Holford. Morello is famous for being a member of Rage Against The Machine and collaborated with Audioslave.

Kirk Hammett as himself – The Metallica guitarist appears to Kevin as Morello and Holford do. Besides being a member of Metallica, Hammett voiced himself in a The Simpsons’ episode.

Scott Ian as himself – Ian appears in Metal Lords along with Holford, Morello, and Hammett to Kevin. He’s co-founded the thrash metal band Anthrax, of which he’s the guitarist.

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