John Ridley Talks About His Secret Marvel Series

[RandySF]

John Ridley has earned plenty of praise for his work on ABC’s American Crime. The first season was lauded for opening up a dialogue about the justice system, and the second season looks to be poised to do the same from another angle. (It premieres on January 6.) But the crime drama isn’t the only project Ridley is working on for the network. He’s got two more in the works, one is Presence about a private investigator, another is a secret project for Marvel.

While Ridley couldn’t talk about just what was entailed in the Marvel series he’s been developing with the network in a recent interview with Collider, he did address the differences between making a show like American Crime and a show for Marvel. He admitted that he understands something like American Crime isn’t for everyone, and with a Marvel series, he would have the chance to create a show for a different audience:

I grew up reading graphic novels, which back then were comic books. I’ve written some. I have kids who, with as much social impact that American Crime or 12 Year A Slave has, they could not care less. They’re just at that age… I love American Crime and I love what it’s about, but it’s a hard show. It’s not just about, did we get it right? Are people going to like this?... Like everybody, I’ve got a lot of moods and I want to service them. And I want to service other audiences. American Crime is not for everybody. I acknowledge that, and that’s okay. I’d like to find something else that maybe is not quite for an American Crime audience, but is for some other folks who want to have other experiences when they’re digesting entertainment…

All he could say about the show as a whole was this:

And I can’t talk much, at all, about it, but when Marvel and ABC approached me about the project, it felt like a good fit. Look at Jessica Jones and what they’re doing. It’s quality stuff. So, I hope and believe that, if we have the opportunity to do it, it will be done with quality.

Some have speculated that the Marvel series in question, since it’s not the Agents of SHIELD spinoff series featuring Adrianne Palicki and Nick Blood, could be centered around Ms. Marvel, or even Cloak and Dagger. Ms. Marvel, a character who took up the name because she’s a fan of Captain Marvel, a character who will be getting her own movie one day, is one of the most popular comics out there these days. The teenage Pakistani-American has made comic book readers more conscious of the need for diversity on the page. Cloak and Dagger, meanwhile, are part of the Runaways series of comic books, and characters that Marvel has tried to develop a project around numerous times in the past, but it’s never moved forward. fans of the comic book series, which featured a run by Joss Whedon, are still hoping they make it to the screen in the near future.


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