Marvel’s long-discussed
“Cloak and Dagger” television drama is reportedly targeting a winter 2018 debut as the initial script undergoes a rewrite by showrunner Joe Pokaski.
The tidbit surfaces in
The Hollywood Reporter‘s new profile of Freeform, the Disney-owned cable channel formerly known as ABC Family. Based on the Marvel Comics characters created by characters created by
Bill Mantlo and artist
Ed Hannigan, the “superhero love story” was
ordered straight to series in April.
Produced by Marvel Television and ABC Signature Studios, “Cloak and Dagger” will center on Tandy Bowen and Tyrone Johnson, teenagers from different backgrounds who grapple with newly acquired superpowers — Tandy can emit daggers of light, while Tyrone can engulf others in darkness — even as they fall in love.
Jeph Loeb, Marvel’s Head of Television, explained in August
why the project was right for ABC’s teen-focused network, which is home to “Pretty Little Liars,” “Shadowhunters” and “The Fosters.”
“It’s a love story that happens to have characters that have always traditionally been in that age group,” he said. “It’s not like we took something and made it into a YA. It speaks to a YA audience and is a YA property. Would I do ‘Punisher’ on Freeform? I don’t think that’s going to connect the same way.”
Marvel has discussed a possible “Cloak and Dagger” series since at least 2010, when it was part of a planned television slate that included “Hulk,” “AKA Jessica Jones” and “Mockingbird.” While “Hulk” never materialized, and “Mockingbird” morphed into “Marvel’s Most Wanted,” which was rejected by ABC, “Jessica Jones” became part of Marvel’s critically acclaimed Netflix lineup that includes “Daredevil,” “Luke Cage” and the upcoming “Iron Fist,” “The Defenders” and “The Punisher.”