Nia DaCosta calls it a “wonderful coincidence” that she’s getting to direct her Candyman star Teyonah Parris in the forthcoming superhero film The Marvels.

In fact, DaCosta tells ABC Audio that when she spoke to Parris about her superhero role as Monica Rambeau, she hadn’t yet signed on to direct the film.

“So I think I knew Teyonah was going to be Monica Rambeau, like when we were shooting,” DaCosta recalls. “Because there was a day we were shooting [and] she had to pretend something was there and be like scared. And she was like, ‘There’s nothing there. Like, I’ve never had to do this before.’ And I’m like, ‘You’re going to be in a superhero TV show. Like you’re going to have to look at like a tennis ball and stuff.’ And she was like, ‘Oh, I don’t know.'”

That early conversation, DaCosta notes, later became a foretelling of what the director now has to do on set of The Marvels, where Parrish reprises her role as Monica Rambeau, a superpowered captain at the agency S.W.O.R.D.

“And then it was just funny that it turned out that I would be directing her again [and] looking at things that don’t exist,” DaCosta laughs. “So, I was just so excited for her — just as a fan. I’m a huge Marvel fan and fan of Monica Rambeau [and] fan of Teyonah.”

The director calls the re-teaming of her and Parris a “perfect” union.

“[To end] up directing her next outing in that world…it’s such a wonderful coincidence,” she adds.

Candyman is in theaters. The Marvels is slated to hit theaters on November 11, 2022.