ABC, home to ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’, won’t be devoid of any Marvel programming for too long, as ABC Entertainment president Karey Burke revealed at the TCAA Winter Press Tour that the network is in talks with Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige to bring another project to ABC (which is owned by Disney, after all). Unfortunately, it may be a while.
As Burke stated:
“We love our partners at Marvel and are sad to see S.H.I.E.L.D. go. It’s been a big part of our history. Looking forward to working with Kevin Feige and the new incarnation of Marvel. We’re just in the very beginning of conversations with him now about what the ABC Marvel show might look like. Right now Marvel’s focus has been on the pilot for Disney+ as it should be.”
This year, Disney+ will present ‘The Falcon and the Winter Soldier’ and ‘WandaVision’. Also in the works are ‘Loki’, ‘Hawkeye’ which are expected to arrive next year, as well as the animated ‘What If…?’ After that, Marvel has announced three shows featuring brand new characters, ‘Moon Knight’, ‘Ms. Marvel’, and ‘She-Hulk’.
Besides ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’, ABC aired ‘Agent Carter’ which lasted for two seasons, and ‘Inhumans’. At various points, plans were underway to create spin-offs from ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’ including ‘Ghost Rider’ and ‘Marvel’s Most Wanted’ but neither was picked up. Though ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ will wrap up after six seasons, it was never a ratings powerhouse during that time.
Now that Marvel Television has been folded under Marvel Studios, the movie branch has been cleaning house, essentially canceling nearly all existing shows including Hulu’s ‘Runaways’, and ‘Ghost Rider’ which was still in early development, and Freeform’s ‘Cloak & Dagger’. Freeform previously ordered a show based on the ‘New Warriors’, but it opted not to pick it up after the pilot was made. Andrew Heinberg, who created the ‘Young Avengers’ was in talks with ABC to create a show featuring multiple female heroes, but that was also not picked up. Hulu still has one live-action Marvel show, ‘Helstrom’ in the works.
So it sounds like once the Disney+ shows are up and running, that Marvel Studios will basically throw ABC a bone and let them have another show, this time under the watchful eye of Feige, so expect it to have a greater connection to the film universe. It will probably be a little while before we learn what characters it might include. If the shows don’t arrive until 2022 or after, there is even the possibility that ABC could be used to revive one or more of the former Marvel shows offered via Netflix, but that’s just speculation, based on the RUMOR that this is something Marvel is interested in.
What would you like to see Marvel present via ABC?
Source: Deadline
