Joss Whedon to Co-Write and Maybe Direct ABC’s ‘S.H.I.E.L.D.’ TV Pilot

The following is a special bulletin from the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division. 

As reported earlier, ABC is gearing up for a new live action TV series from Marvel and Joss Whedon. Deadline now confirms that the project is called S.H.I.E.L.D., and that that jawn is good to go into production right the hell now.

Joss Whedon and Samuel L. Jackson (Nick Fury) conceptualizing on the set of 'Marvel's The Avengers'

This is also a family affair, with Whedon executive producing and co-writing the pilot with his brother Jed Whedon and his wife Maurissa Tancharoen (both of whom worked on Dollhouse and The Avengers). Joss is tentatively slated to direct the pilot, schedule permitting. That schedule, as you’ll recall, also includes writing and directing the Avengers sequel.

We don’t know whether any characters or actors from the Marvel Cinematic Universe will reprise their roles in the series (Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury? Cobey Smulders as Maria Hill? Galaga Guy?), but it’s a good bet that we’ll see plenty of familiar characters and organizations from Marvel comics should the series succeed. It’s far from Whedon’s first fling with series television, but this is also a whole new ballgame given the big push from Disney and the firm connection to one of the most successful film franchises in the history of everything. Tons of potential for the studios and the fans. Co-executive producer Jeph Loeb’s likely got an extra spring in his step this week.

So, who would you like to see turn up on ABC’s S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series? What characters (who might not carry their own feature film) ought to cameo?

Comments

  1. They need to find a way to get Patrick Stewart to play Dum-Dum.

  2. Squirrel Girl! She could be played by… oh, heck, I don’t know… Nathan Fillion.

  3. Falcon.

  4. Awesome. This could be a great way for them to use a lot of characters they might be tempted to clutter the movies up with, like Mockingbird, Hercules (!), She-Hulk, etc. Give Cobie Smulders the lead and back her up with some of the SHIELD classics like Quartermain and Sitwell. Could be a lot of fun.

    • Guess it depends on how long it takes for the show to take off, compared to if this next season is in fact the final season of HIMYM.

  5. Excellent news. Although I doubt we’ll see any of the main people from Avengers show up – the biggest possibility would be Cobie Smulders I guess, and that’s only if anything happened to HIMYM. Some guest spots would be fun though.

    Are there any major SHIELD agents we haven’t seen in the movies yet?

    • Avatar photo Paul Montgomery (@fuzzytypewriter) says:

      Daisy Johnson.

    • Good call. Obviously yet to see how many regular super-powered characters they’d have on a TV budget, but that’s certainly a possibility.

    • Contessa, Quartermain, Sharon Carter, Jimmy Woo, Abigail Brand (SWORD, but y’know, close enough), Jessica Drew… I think Sitwell’s already been incorporated in the Marvel short films, so maybe he can get a bigger role in this series. I can’t wait for this.

    • introduce The irredeemable Ant Man!!!!

    • I only recognize about half these names, but it’s good to know there’s a fair few to choose from if they want!

      I’m guessing the cast will be largely new characters developed for this show, but I’m sure some occasional fan service will make us squeal with glee!

    • @Cooper some of those names come from the early Fury stories by Jim Steranko, Jack Kirby, etc so most of them have kind of been lost in the shuffle recently, but they were major players in those comics.

    • Let’s say that one guy who is currently on that Common Law show on USA who was an agent on the Helicarrier bridge is like, Scott Lang or Eric O’Grady.

  6. I feel like Michael Chiklis should be in this, the idea just popped in my head.

  7. While I do look forward to this show. But ifanboy posting that image from the other “Shield” tv series got me more excited. For a second I thought there was news about a return of what I feel was the best tv drama ever.

  8. Introduce a bunch a characters before they become superhuman (ex. Jennifer Walters, Simon Williams).

  9. I’m wondering if Jeremy Renner’s going to be a big name in it, because I was really surprised (considering how positive the fan reaction to him in the avengers was) they aren’t pursuing anything with him or black widow as a franchise. He might be too pricey, though. I could still see him having a few episodes.

    And with HIMYM done by the time this thing is ready to start shooting — I really think Coby might get the lead.

  10. oh and Sarah Michelle Gellar best be calling Joss for a shot a playing Mockingbird.

  11. Abigail Brand, Tony Masters, Eric O’Grady G.W. Bridge, Sharon Carter, Carol Denver, Wendell Vaughn, Jessica Drew, Jimmy Woo and Daisy Johnson. And of course everybody from the movies.

  12. Jessica Jones!

  13. Oh, and does anyone care to guess who’s going to be revealed to be a life-model-decoy by the end of the first season?

  14. Reeeally was hoping for a NYC street level show with DD, Jessica Jones, Heroes for Hire, ect all in play in interconnected stories…

    But still suspect that this will be amazing. Still hope those street level characters play a role though!

  15. I think it would be cool if its a more street level thing, with a Special Ops team and a bunch of new Agent Coulsen types. Every episode have a secondary Avenger character join up with them to help with the mission.

    Honestly a spec ops/espionage show that just chases HYDRA around the world would be fun by itself.

  16. This sounds incredibly awesome. How many roles will Nathan Fillion play? 15 or 20?

  17. What if they went “Lost” on us and based the show closer to Hickman’s SHIELD with time traveling Da Vinci and Agents Richards and Stark hot on the trail…one can dream.

  18. Eric O’Grady!

  19. i was seriously hoping this was going to be a powerman and iron fist: heroes for hire show. they should at least get cameos in a shield show, though. i wonder how much they’re going to tie this into the cinematic universe, not just whether or not sam jackson would be in a tv show, but whether they take plot points from the tv show and expand on them in the next movie.

    i just read nick fury vs shield, and i would love to see a live action adaptation of that.

  20. If done right, this could be outstanding. I would love to see the show focus on the various terrorist and crime organizations in the Marvel Universe. Hydra, AIM, ….those other ones I can’t remember, even though they are all chaing Daredevil. Even some excursions into places like Latveria and Symkaria and Genosha could be interesting. I also agree that there are plenty of great street level characters that could be in the show. Mockingbird as a SHIELD agent would be great to see.

  21. I demand some Hank Pym. Why? Because.

    • Also, they need to show that Agent Coulsen isn’t really dead, that he either survived when Fury said he passed, or that was a LMD.

    • That would cheapen Coulson’s death, though. The other Avengers would be all “So, he’s not dead? WTF Fury, you asshole!”

    • But doesn’t that fit with Fury’s character? lol

    • Set the show BEFORE the movie. Coulson is still alive and back on the show!

      I think they should have Hank and Janet as the resident science adviser team. Maybe before they were married? Build up the tension first?

      Definitely have Cobey Smulders as Maria Hill, she’d be the main on-screen leader. SLJ could have cameos as Fury, since I doubt he would sign on for a long haul TV series. I loves me some Sharon Carter too…

  22. Where do we stand with the X-Men and Spider-Man rights issues in TV land. Is it the same as the movies?

  23. Okay people lets start dream casting, meaning witch actors is Joss gonna use again. Sara Michelle Gellar ? Eliza Dushku ? Amy Acker ? Alexis Denisof ?

    Come on people we know its gonna happen.

  24. This is gonna be a tough balancing act. Cause it’s going to be amazing if this turns into a thing. But it needs to be nothing like Walking Dead when it comes to adapting from any source material. Also, it needs to be fucking good. Like tight. It needs to have great writers, actors, and special effects. We saw that AMC can put a show with only 1 of those factors on their hit show and SHIELD needs to learn how to do better then that.

  25. One really cool thing about this is that they should be able to use the sets from the movies for the show. Star Trek did this effectively.

  26. I’m guessing maybe the “Item 47” short on the Avengers blu-ray may point to a possible direction for this show (the disc was released in Australia yesterday). It sucks that you guys won’t see it for a while. Looking forward to your opinions!

  27. Hey Waitaminute!

    Isn’t Brubaker leaving comics to write for television?
    Any chance this is show he’ll be writing for?

  28. I wonder if they’ll keep pretending spider-man doesn’t exist

  29. Wade MotherF’n Wilson!!