Marvel is developing a new TV series based on the comic “Cloak and Dagger”. The series is coming to Freeform network, which was previously known as ABC Family. (Which means it is owned by a certain corporation that also owns Marvel Comics and happens to rhyme with “Gisney.”) This news got fans of the property incredibly excited, and they should be! This is a great comic with great characters and it has the potential to be a great series…if it’s done right.
This is not to be confused with the Atari 2600 game, “Cloak & Dagger,” or the 1984 film, Cloak & Dagger, starring Henry Thomas and Dabney Coleman. I understand if you are getting your 1980s nostalgia all mixed up.
The network has since released the following official synopsis for their adaptation:
This exciting new series is an adaptation of the beloved Marvel characters aimed squarely at young adults. This live-action interracial romance follows Tandy Bowen and Tyrone Johnson, two teenagers from very different backgrounds, who find themselves burdened and awakened to newly acquired superpowers while falling in love. Tandy can emit light daggers and Tyrone has the ability to engulf others in darkness. They quickly learn they are better together than apart—but their feelings for each other make their already complicated world even more challenging.
The series will mark a third network for Marvel TV live-action properties, with “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” and others on ABC, “Daredevil” and more on Netflix, and now Freeform taking on “Cloak and Dagger”.
The show currently has no release date, stars attached, writers, or even a showrunner, but at least they know what they want out of it. I hope it doesn’t turn out to be a cheesy, young adult-type show because it sounds like it could be, which would confirm the fears of some fans. I just hope it doesn’t try too hard to adapt itself into the 21st Century, because the only thing worse than being stuck in 80’s nostalgia is trying so hard to be contemporary, that it will date relegate as potential future 2010’s nostalgia.