Maria is the chief antagonist of the series.  She is a gifted scholar who is translating some lost, forbidden texts ostensibly for the Primordials to enable them to cross over to this reality, but she actually has her own agenda. She is a mother who has lost her only child to a terrible accident.   Her daughter is in a coma and Maria will do anything and everything, sacrifice anyone or anything to achieve her objective, which is, she believes, the return of her daughter to the land of the living.  She is desperate, totally driven, and the only other person she trusts, who is on her side is Wulf.  I see her as mid thirties, with the name Benes possible a Latino accent, but not absolutely necessary.  I'm more about what the actor can bring to the part. She must be capable of both great love (for Wulf and her daughter) and great coldness and ruthlessness. She's pretty fearless too.  She's also going to go a bit whacko at the end.  So, yeah, a bit of acting challenge.  Again, this is a really important role.  Not too much in the first issue, but the part gets bigger and bigger as the series progresses.