Past experience has taught telly fans to be wary of too-good-to-be-true-seeming TV pitches. We all know how these things usually go. News arrives of an exciting show in the works, and the idea then embarks on a hurdle-laden journey to the small screen that few survive. Some are nixed at scripting or pilot stage, others – like Guillermo Del Toro’s Hulk– are indefinitely mothballed, and more still just fizzle out, having lost network support or momentum.
A recent Tweet sent by Variety critic Marc Graser however, gives us reason to believe that Marvel’s S.H.I.E.L.D. might be a few rungs further up the production ladder than initially thought. “Joss Whedon starts shooting #Marvel's new S.H.I.E.L.D. TV series in January. #Marvel#SHIELD #Avengers” announced Graser yesterday, which means that ABC could be planning to have the series, once commissioned, on our screens by Autumn 2013. That all sounds rather like good news we'd have said.
Appreciating that there’s been no official confirmation of the pilot's start-date as yet, with The Avengers 2 pencilled in for a 2015 release, an early start for Marvel’s S.H.I.E.L.D. would mean the show could slot in to bridge the gap between cinema releases.
Recent casting news announced that Stargate and ER's Ming-Na Wen has joined Marvel’s S.H.I.E.L.D. in the role of Agent Melinda May, and is set to appear alongside fan-favourite, Clark Gregg’s Agent Coulson.
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