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| Courtesy of Marvel |
Last week, ABC President Paul Lee made a couple of confirmations concerning the future of the MCU and Marvel television with the Disney-owned network. While admitting disappointment with how the series began, ABC is still supportive of Agents of SHIELD (right up until they have to renew it, anyway). Then he dropped this:
"Creatively, we are loving what we’re seeing for the back nine. We’re doing a lot of work, and I’m really enjoying doing this with Marvel. We can announce that Lady Sif is coming in, in Episode 15. We’re shooting it now, and that’s going to be absolutely integral to that hour of television."Right from the start, it was clear that SHIELD was not going to be a place where the Avengers popped up week to week. But the cameos from Maria Hill and Nick Fury helped in those early episodes to establish the series as part of the larger MCU. Since then, with the exception of the Asgardian episode and increasingly frustrating references to the three big MacGuffins of the films, the show has concentrated on establishing it's own corner of the MCU to live in, and avoided connections to the various film series. This has not exactly worked in the show's favour, so it's great to hear that they'll be fixing that, and in an episode that will air soon (presumably in February). And that's a fan favourite character, and that it's one of the few female heroes that the MCU has established is better news yet. The last couple episodes of SHIELD have been a rough step back, but I'm properly excited about this. I just hope it's less of a cameo a la Fury, and more of a full episode guest spot. Maybe now we'll find out what happened to that Frost Beast from the end of The Dark World.
Lee, while refusing to talk about future Marvel developments that he has no hand in, did provide the only official confirmation we've gotten on the Agent Carter series, saying:
"In terms of Agent Carter, the script has come in. It’s a really good script, written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who are great. Also, Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas are on that one. That certainly has a chance to be on the network. We’re looking for big, broad plays that we can plan on ABC, and really make great Marvel super-fan shows for Netflix. We think it’s a great balance, and the ABC Studios side of it are really enjoying it, as are Marvel."While no pilot has yet been ordered, it's at least comforting to know that Marvel and ABC are putting man hours behind the project. Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas, who had previously worked on Joss Whedon's Dollhouse, and ran the criminally under appreciated Reaper, would act as the showrunners should Carter get picked up for series. Personally, I feel that ABC would be foolish to not pick the Carter series up for next season. And despite it's flaws, I think they would be shooting themselves in the foot if they cancelled SHIELD after one (it's ratings aren't great, but they are good by modern standards). It just needs an overhaul. I feel that the best win-win for the network, Marvel, and the viewers would be to split the year between the two series. 13 episode orders each would force the writers to focus their storytelling, and make better TV.
Via Collider.