Marvel's Cloak And Dagger project may have gone a bit quiet of late, but at least one episode is ready to go...
Marvel's Cloak And Dagger TV show is still set for a winter 2018 release, despite no word on continuing production for the series. The pilot episode is already in the can, however, and its director Gina Prince-Bythewood (Love & Basketball) has been speaking about the importance of bringing diversity to youth-orientated superhero projects.
In an interview with BlackFilm, Prince-Blythewood was asked if she knew anything about the property before she signed on for one of Marvel's newest ventures into television.
"I did not. I’ve just been a fan of Marvel. When I heard what the story was about, it was right into my wheelhouse and the fact that my boys are big comic book guys and honestly, three years ago I was watching a Marvel show and my youngest ask when will we have a black superhero. The fact that we’re so excited for Black Panther to come out, and the fact that I got to put something out on TV with a young female superhero and a black superhero was just a gift."
The show focuses on the characters of Tyrone Johnson's Cloak, a superhero endowed with the powers of teleportation and intangibility with a link to the ‘Darkforce dimension’ and Tandy Bowen's Dagger, who can create 'daggers of light', heal people, and purge addictions. The pair are street-dwelling runaways, who meet in New York, simultaneously gain their powers, and eventually team up to fight crime, with a particular focus on stamping down on drugs (at least to start with).
The 'live-action interracial romance' is looking to break new ground on the Freeform cable channel when it arrives, and it's certainly about time we had more diversity in the superhero genre.
"It was such a great script and to be able to help create the look of the show was exciting for me," the director added. "I love that they are starting to open up and broaden who there are bringing in."
Aubrey Joseph (The Night Of) and Olivia Holt (I Didn't Do It) will be starring as Cloak and Dagger respectively, when the series finally lands.