Ever since the premiere of Marvel’s small-screen universe with Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., comic book television series in the MCU have spread across networks and outlets. AoS is in its fourth season, with the highly anticipated Inhumans on the way. Netflix has its innovative slate of shows in the form of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and the upcoming Iron Fist and Defenders, and while FX’s Marvel-inspired Legion does not connect with the MCU, it’s breaking some interesting new ground in the genre.
Now, we’ve got a whole new corner of Marvel Comics to explore on television, in the form of Hulu’s upcoming Runaways. Based on the series which began in 2003, Runaways follows a group of teenagers who are horrified to discover that their parents are a cadre of evil supervillains known as The Pride. The Runaways’ pilot episode began filming in February, with set photos and videos surfacing soon after.
Production on the pilot has now wrapped, according to tweets by two cast members. Buffy alum James Marsters (who plays Pride parent Victor Stein) and Faking It’s Gregg Sulkin (who plays his son Chase Stein) tweeted the following:
We’re finishing filming on Marvel’s Runaways. Great cast, great crew…tight social media security! No beans will be spilled on this deal!— James Marsters (@JamesMarstersOf) March 3, 2017
Was 100% for the crew & maybe me a just a little hahahha @JambaJuice #iJamba #bestcrewever pic.twitter.com/R6iFQY5vXj— Gregg Sulkin (@greggsulkin) March 4, 2017
While plot details are being kept under wraps - and as Marsters suggests, the cast and crew are not about to leak anything - the tone of the TV version of Runaways remains a question. Will the show echo the comics and its relatively lighthearted tone? The set photos and videos suggest an initial high school setting, and the visibly purple hair of Ariela Barer as Gert Yorkes may point to a reasonably faithful rendering of the characters.
Another big question is to what extent Runaways will connect to the ongoing MCU. Despite technically being part of the same narrative universe, Netflix’s shows have essentially ignored the movies and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. While constant inter-property references would prove maddening and are unnecessary, there is no real sense that the shows and movies are seamlessly interwoven. This has as much to do with narrative issues as with competing fiefdoms within the studio’s various production and development arms, but as the MCU expands, where does something like Runaways fit in?
We have the upcoming Marvel-based Cloak & Dagger, as well, which will premiere on Freeform. So far, the Marvel shows on Netflix have arguably been superior to the movies in how they handle their characters. Cloak & Dagger and Runaways may also have similar, unique takes on their source material. Now that the pilots have wrapped, we could see some footage before too long.
Next: Runaways Characters & Marvel Universe Connections Explained
Runaways is expected to premiere on Hulu sometime in 2018.
Source: James Marsters, Gregg Sulkin
