Announced at Hulu’s Upfront presentation today, Marvel comic “Runaways” has officially been ordered to series. It will be adapted for television by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, the creative team behind The O.C. and Gossip Girl. The duo will also serve as the show’s co-showrunners, writers, and executive producers, along with Jeph Loeb and Jim Chory, who head Marvel’s TV division. It is not clear how many episodes were ordered for the first season.
Hulu describes the series as “the story of six diverse teenagers who can barely stand each other but who must unite against a common foe – their parents.” The story will explore the younger side of the Marvel Universe in the type of coming of age story Schwartz and Savage specialize in telling. We’ve outlined the cast previously, and it appears that most, if not all, of the major characters from the comics run will be featured on the show. The series will premiere on Hulu “in the winter.”
A clip accompanied the announcement and was screened for those in attendance during today’s Upfront presentation. As of right now neither Marvel nor Hulu have officially released the clip online, but NBC Today contributor Jack Rico filmed the video clip and tweeted it out.
Hulu will now be competing with Netflix by adding @MarvelStudios #Runaways. Here's the first look! pic.twitter.com/BKDdchqY6X
— Jack Rico (@JackRicofficial) May 3, 2017
The series, created by writer Brian K. Vaughan (“Saga,” “Paper Girls”) and artist Adrian Alphona (“Ms. Marvel,” “Uncanny X-force”), debuted in July of 2003 but was canceled in September 2004 after 18 issues. Due to high numbers of trade collection sales, Marvel revived the series in February 2005. The co-creators left the series at issue 24 of that volume, which then ended at #30. A third attempt at the title, written by Joss Whedon (“Astonishing X-Men,” Buffy the Vampire Slayer), was cancelled in November 2009 after 14 issues. A proposed film adaptation was put on ice in 2010, when Marvel was choosing to focus on building its cinematic brand around the Avengers.
