Joss Whedon's S.H.I.E.L.D to ABC!

[OdoWanKenobi]

They ought to bring Dum Dum Dugan into the present. Neil McDonough isn't on a series right now, is he?

[Harvey]

Christopher wrote:

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Cobie Smulders has another series gig, doesn't she?

She's a regular on the half-hour sitcom How I Met Your Mother, but that show is entering its eighth season, which many speculate will be its last.

[Enterprise is Great]

I wonder if Eliza Dushku is up for another Whedon series...

[kirk55555]

The show sounds cool. I think it could be very good, if done well.

[Gaith]

Here's hoping it'll be something more ambitious than just another paranormal cops procedural (and not just "paranormal cops who aren't strictly US-affiliated and thus have to dodge real cops while they investigate the Monsters of the Week", either)...

[Captain Craig]

The show itself can work week in/week out under various genres. I'm more interested in what characters will be used and actors cast. Will we have comic characters used to head up SHIELD or will they go the Coulson route again and try to create a character. The latter would allow for some flexibility in drama I'd think.

Now I wonder if they will try to have this as a mid-season debuting show around Jan '13 before Phase 2 of MCU starts or a Fall '13 show after IM 3 has opened? Depending on what, if any ties to the MCU, would there be a benefit?

[Beagleman]

Captain Craig wrote:

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The show itself can work week in/week out under various genres. I'm more interested in what characters will be used and actors cast. Will we have comic characters used to head up SHIELD or will they go the Coulson route again and try to create a character. The latter would allow for some flexibility in drama I'd think.

My guess, it will be a mix of the two. Only makes sense...

[Ayelbourne]

Enterprise is Great wrote:

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I wonder if Eliza Dushku is up for another Whedon series...

Hell, she could be the female lead as Carol Danvers. Whedon is all about women's empowerment, afterall.

[Christopher]

Much as I'd love to see Carol Danvers onscreen, I'm not sure I'd feel the same about Dushku as a blonde. Although I guess comics characters haven't always kept their hair color when translated to live action (e.g. redheaded Noel Neill as Lois Lane, raven-haired Kristin Kreuk as Lana Lang, or brunette John Wesley Shipp as Barry Allen).

Also, Ms./Captain Marvel is a Superman-level character power-wise, so it'd be hard to do her justice on a TV budget, and I wouldn't want to see her powers toned down. I'm hoping she'll show up in the movies, but I'm pretty sure a SHIELD TV series would deliberately focus on more normal, human characters. (Which is why I'm thinking Mockingbird for the female lead.)

[OdoWanKenobi]

I think it's almost certain that there will be somebody with superpowers in the main cast. This is a Marvel show, even if it's focused less on the superheroes themselves. We'll also probably see superheroes and villains turn up in guest spots pretty regularly, I would think.

[Christopher]

OdoWanKenobi wrote:

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I think it's almost certain that there will be somebody with superpowers in the main cast.

To an extent, maybe, but it seems to me the whole point of focusing on SHIELD is to allow for a show that doesn't rely too heavily on special effects. It seems to me that a lot of the characters/concepts that Marvel has been reported as developing for TV these past couple of years are designed to lean toward more conventional TV formats and away from the heavy superhero action/costumes/etc., like a Punisher project (that fell through), a Mockingbird series described by Jeph Loeb as "Alias meets Felicity," or AKA Jessica Jones (which also fell through), based on the Alias comic (no relation) about an ex-superheroine turned detective. There's also a Cloak and Dagger show on their development slate, which would involve a fair amount of special effects, but not a huge amount. The one thing they're developing for TV that involves a really top-level superpowered protagonist is Guillermo Del Toro's Incredible Hulk project. And even that's about a guy who's just a normal human a lot of the time.

[Admiral_Young]

This could be a way to introduce Carol Danvers as a Shield agent. This is must likely going to bridge together phase one with phase two. "How I Met Your Mother" was renewed by CBS last year for another three seasons but that does not mean Cobie can not appear in this if scheduling allows for it. She wouldn't be a major character, but Maria Hill could make occasional guest spots in it.

Not to mention we've yet to see Sharon Carter. Or Jessica Drew (although she could be hung up as a Sony property given her name). Like I said before, the character possibilities and with Joss involved are nearly limitless.

[Temis the Vorta]

Neal McDonough has a role on LA Noir, which is supposedly a lock at TNT. Maybe he cold play Dum Dum's grandson in cameos. I could see Samuel L. Jackson doing cameos; he does Mace Windu's voice on The Clone Wars, after all.

[Harvey]

Voice acting requires less of a commitment than live action appearances.

(And, anyway, IMDB tells me that Jackson only voiced the character in the theatrical movie that preceded the series; Terrence 'T.C.' Carson voices him on the television version).

[DWF]

Christopher wrote:

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Also, Ms./Captain Marvel is a Superman-level character power-wise, so it'd be hard to do her justice on a TV budget, and I wouldn't want to see her powers toned down. I'm hoping she'll show up in the movies, but I'm pretty sure a SHIELD TV series would deliberately focus on more normal, human characters. (Which is why I'm thinking Mockingbird for the female lead.)

She's not that powerful and she's not Binary anymore of course she's not a SHIELD agent anymore either.