cloak-dagger-comic-marvel

Freeform’s ‘Cloak & Dagger’— an adaptation of the Marvel Comics series– is moving along at a steady pace.  The series is due to premier in 2018 and already has a showrunner (Joe Pakasky), pilot director (Gina Prince-Bythewood) and two rumored leads, ‘Heroes’ alum Noah Gray-Cabey and former Disney star Debby Ryan.  (The castings have yet to be officially confirmed.)

Now comes even more news via Marvel Entertainment and ABC Signature Studios.

First is a more detailed synopsis than the first that was released:

Described as a superhero love story, Cloak and Dagger is based on the titular comic book duo (also known as Tandy Bowen and Tyrone Johnson) who have appeared in Marvel Comics classics, including Spiderman and X-Men stories.The live-action interracial romance follows the duo, 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.

Below is a casting call for the two lead roles.  It may be from a while back as it uses fake names For Tandy (Tara) and Tyrone (Travis)

Series Regular Female (17)
Series Regular Male (17)
Female, 18 to play 17, Caucasian. Tara was a plucky Open southern girl who grew up with everything. She was always full of light. Then an accident took away everything. Now she’s a cynic who steals from tourists to make ends meet.  Life took from her. She’s going to take back. But can that light be rekindled?

Series Lead Male. 18 to play 17. African American. When Travis was a Open little boy he was fearless. But then he made a mistake and it cost him dearly. So Travis grew up in a fear. Scared of a world he couldn’t control. So he controlled what he could.  Keeping his head down, focusing on school and basketball. Locking in on fear. But is that brave boy still in there?

The interesting thing about the casting sheet is that they are casting 18 year-olds to play 17 year-olds.  That is of course to have full use of the two actors to shoot as much as they need.  This is especially crucial considering they are the two leads.  Using underage actors require a lot more restrictions including more off time and education.

As for the synopsis, it’s a little odd that they go out of their way to state that this is an interracial romance.  Not only is that obvious, but in this day and age, irrelevant.  Freeform and other networks already feature interracial romances of all ages and even sexual orientations.

The origins for the show are slightly toned down from their comic book origin, in which they were both runaways who gained their powers after being injected by synthetic heroin by gangsters.  (Either that, or they were mutants.  Depends on which issue of their comics you read.)

But Freeform isn’t afraid to touch on controversial topics, airing shows like ‘The Fosters’ about an interracial lesbian couple raising a family of biological and adopted children, the youngest of whom is a 13 year-old boy experiencing his first sexual awakening and ‘Recovery Road’ about young drug and alcohol addicts struggling to stay sober and not always succeeding.  Obviously, this won’t be as gritty as the Netflix Marvel shows, but don’t expect a complete neutering either.

What do you think of these newest descriptions?  Do they make you more or less excited to see this series when it finally arrives?

Source: That Hashtag Show