Image via marvelousRoland
ABC have announced a pilot order for SHIELD from Marvel studios to be executive produced by Joss Whedon.
When Joss Whedon was locked to direct Avengers 2, Marvel also announced he would be developing a television show for the studio although the focus had yet to be revealed.
SHIELD has had a presence from the inception of the Marvel Cinematic Universe mainly in the form of agency director Nick Fury as played by Samuel L Jackson with who first made a cameo in Iron Man. Throughout he has been accompanied by company man, Agent Coulson as portrayed by Clark Gregg.
SHIELD or Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division (although these letters have stood for other within Marvel history) was properly fleshed out in The Avengers. It’s essentially a law enforcement agency which specialises in dealing with superhuman threats.
While this show will be set in the same universe as the films, it’s unlikely that the A-list actors or characters would appear but expect plenty of references to Stark Industries and other Marvel tropes.
With the multi-billion dollar success of the Marvel movie universe it seemed inevitable that it would expand into other media. A couple of television projects have been bubbling in development with a Hulk show still in the works, although a proposed TV version of Alias titled AKA Jessica Jones failed to materialise.
With Whedon on their books it seemed inevitable that Marvel would get him to do what he does best, and that’s make excellent serialised drama. Also on board are husband and wife team Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen who worked on Dollhouse, Jeffrey Bell, former executive producer on Angel, and Jeph Loeb who worked on development of Buffy: The Animated Series, as well as various small screen Marvel cartoons.
The pilot is to be written by Whedon, Whedon and Tancharoen with Joss Whedon presumably directing before taking more of a back seat role as he sets to work on Avengers 2.
With the massive success of the film franchise and some great creative people in charge this show should be a fire proof hit, but the television audience can prove to be a fickle beast.
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