With the corridor-punching Netflix franchises teaming up for this summer’s “The Defenders,” Marvel’s TV efforts are moving into a new phase, and they won’t be short of projects. Freeform’s “Cloak & Dagger” and comedy “New Warriors,” Hulu’s “The Runaways,” “X-Men”-related “Gifted” on Fox, and a Netflix “Punisher” spin-off are all set to debut in the next year or so, but the biggest gamble to date, quite literally, might come with ABC‘s “Inhumans.”
Until not so long ago, the property — about a royal family of superheroes — was set to be part of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, with a movie scheduled to debut towards the end of Phase Three. But plans change, and the comic is now becoming a TV series, and yet boldly, will still get a big-screen debut, with the first two episodes getting an IMAX release at the start of September.
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With the show gearing up, Entertainment Weekly have debuted a first look at the main characters from the show, along with an interview with showrunner Scott Buck. The image gives a first glimpse of Eme Ikwaukor as Gorgon, Ken Leung as Karnak, Anson Mount as Black Bolt, Serinda Swan as Medusa, Isabelle Cornish as Crystal and Iwan Rheon (from “Game Of Thrones”) as villain Maximus. Not glimpsed is another key cast member, giant dog Lockjaw.
Buck describes the show as “a story about a family at a very critical juncture in their lives,” revealing that the show takes place both on Earth and their moving city of Attilan, talks about the challenges of writing for Black Bolt (who is a silent character who talks through sign language, due to the destructive superpower of his voice), says that Rheon’s Maximus will be “a very real, three-dimensional character…a different, more complicated, more real, more compelling” kind of a villain, and talks the challenges of bringing Lockjaw and Medusa (whose superpower is her hair) to life.
The idea of, essentially, a superhero “Game Of Thrones” is an intriguing one, but Marvel TV don’t have the best track record so far, and Buck, who previously show-ran the much-derided “Iron Fist,” may not give fans that much faith. But we’ll likely see a trailer soon, so we’ll get more of an idea of what the project will look like then, ahead of the IMAX run on September 1st, and the ABC premiere in the fall.
