To add insult to injury, not only did Netflix cancel all of its Marvel original series when Disney announced plans for Disney+, but it left ‘Luke Cage’ dangling from a monster of a cliffhanger in which the lead hero, Luke (Mike Colter) had inherited the criminal army amassed by his foe Mariah Dillard (Alfre Woodard). How would this street-level champion deal with calling the shots for a massive gang of killers and crooks?
‘Luke Cage’ showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker is still bound by a Marvel gag order, but he at least offered a little insight on where the series would have gone had it continued.
“It was crazy because we were hitting all these things that are happening in the press right now. I can’t on the record talk about what we had planned because, contractually, you know, I still don’t want any Marvel assassins coming out of the woodwork to try to take me out. [Laughs] But what I can say is that we had a very good season planned, and it was one that I think would have brought Luke Cage as a character full circle.
”You see people online that were like, ‘Oh my god, I turned Luke into a gangster.’ They wouldn’t be [saying that] if they had the opportunity to see all three seasons and see the directions Luke would have gone.”
Keep in mind, Luke was imprisoned which led to his gaining superpowers. It also led to this glorious shot of Mike Colter dressed in the classic Luke Cage yellow-shirt costume.
So being on the wrong side of the law isn’t anything new to him, but it’s clear that he would have still been the Hero for Hire at heart.
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Coker is definitely a fanboy as he revealed that he was one of the readers who would hit their local comic shop every Wednesday when new issues hit the stands.
“I was always a Luke Cage fan, but I was probably, ultimately, a Chris Claremont, Frank Miller, Wolverine, X-Men Golden Era comic book fan, you know? And it wasn’t until Brian Michael Bendis rebooted Luke Cage within Jessica Jones — that [I felt liberated to] approach established characters within the Luke Cage universe from a different perspective. …
Back in the day when people would actually buy comics on a weekly basis, every Wednesday I would be at Golden Apple or somewhere, and I bonded with a lot of people, like one of my closest friends, the late John Singleton. When the opportunity came up [to do Luke Cage], I knew how big the opportunity was. It was just like, ‘I can’t believe I’m gonna have a chance to do this.’”
There have been rumors that Marvel Studios will revisit the stars of the Netflix shows — Luke Cage, Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, The Punisher, and Daredevil — in some capacity. But the Netflix shows belong to Netflix. And they’re WAY too explicit to ever be presented on Disney+ anyway.
But there is some hope that comic book readers haven’t seen the last of Luke Cage and the gang in live-action. And hopefully, this isn’t the last time Coker will have the opportunity to bring a comic book character to life.
In the meantime, Coker wrote the story for ‘Creed II’ and was attached to work on some Hasbro-based movies, but it’s unclear if those are still in the works. Colter now stars on CBS’ hit freshman series ‘Evil’.
Source: TV Guide
