After weeks of teasing a new “Runaways” series, today Marvel made it official: the series will launch in September from the creative team of Rainbow Rowell and Kris Anka, as revealed to Entertainment Weekly. Rowell, who just yesterday was said to be working with Marvel on a new project, is a novelist, best known for her young adult work.
“Runaways” debuted in 2003 from co-creators Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona, and centered on a group of five teenagers, one preteen and a telepathic velociraptor all on the run from an evil cabal comprised of each of their parents known as The Pride. Though the original series was short lived, both the property and the characters have popped up across the 616 since its original 2004 cancellation; most recently, Alex Wilder was the antagonist for the final arc of David F Walker and Sanford Greene’s “Powerman & Iron Fist” series.
This announcement comes on the heels of the news that Hulu will be producing a Runaways television series, set to debut early next year.
Marvel had been teasing the series for over a week now, with teaser images done by Anka (“Captain Marvel,” “Uncanny X-Men”) for many of the characters being tweeted and sent out to press.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Rowell outlined the first arc, which will see the team reuniting to bring one of their original teammates, Gertrude “Gert” Yorkes, back from the dead. “At the beginning of this series they are scattered to the four winds and half of them are dead,” said Rowell. “One of the challenges now is who are they when they’re apart?”
The timing of the debut likely means that “Runaways” will be debuting as part of Marvel’s previously announced ‘Legacy’ initiative, which seems fitting as these are characters so rooted in their legacy yet new enough to be accessible to a wider audience.
