Joss Whedon, creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse, director of The Avengers (the third highest grossing film of all time) and The Cabin in the Woods, is set to return to TV. According to Deadline, ABC has ordered a pilot for “S.H.I.E.L.D.”, which stands for Strategic Homeland Intervention,
Enforcement and Logistics Division or, if you are a comic fan like me, Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate, a live action series, set in the same universe as Whedon’s movie. Therefore I wouldn’t hold breathe for any A-list cameos, although this rules out neither Chris Evans in the form of Captain America or Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye.
Deadline reports that production will begin immediately, with the aid of Jeph Loeb whose comics are the
definition of hit (Batman: The Long Halloween and Batman: Dark Victory) and miss (Supergirl, Hulk: Gray, Ultimates 3). Fans of the web series Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along blog will be pleased to hear that Jed Wheson and sister-in-law Maurissa Tanchareon are set to be involved.
At present it’s all over hush-hush – will Agent Coulson appear? And if so, does that mean the series will be a prequel to the movie? Or was his death, a ruse? Nick Fury is a fan of them after all. Whedon told MTV NEWS this week there would be a “completely new cast of characters”, whilst promoting Much Ado About Nothing at the Toronto International Film Festival.
And despite having ‘cult’ status with many of his TV projects, his last, Firefly and Dollhouse, were both cancelled.
What do we think?
Mark Brassington 