ABC Orders Pilot for SHIELD

With his feature film superhero team-up The Avengers having racked up a mind-spinning $1.5 billion worldwide (and earning a rerelease to capitalize on the buzz produced by all that capital), Joss Whedon is riding high on the back of Marvel's highly leveragable franchise franchise--and it's not done with him yet.

Even before he gets around to The Avengers 2, the release of which is a few years away (May 2015, specifically), Whedon will get to maneuver the momentum back toward his old stomping ground, episodic television. (Right now is an auspicious time for him to reenter TV production, with Firefly incidentally being feted on its ten-year anniversary.)

Anyway, the point is that ABC has greenlit the shooting of his pilot for SHIELD, written by Whedon with brother Jed and Maurissa Tancharoen, collaborators with Whedon on Dollhouse and Dr. Horrible. "The important thing to me is that we know what the show is. We love what it is. It came together very organically."

Interestingly, the series is meant to find its own path rather than hewing too closely to the movie arc. "It's going to work very well for people who either love the Marvel Universe or for people who've never dipped a toe in the Marvel Universe," he said.

SHIELD, an acronym for Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, "will center around the espionage and law enforcement agency led by Nick Fury in the cinematic universe." Some reports have Samuel L. Jackson reprising the role of Fury from the films; certainly that's the ideal outcome. But the extent to which the story will pivot on Fury is not clear, either. Will Whedon himself be guiding it closely week-to-week if the pilot sells? Maybe not: it's said he won't be showrunner if SHIELD goes to series, though he'll direct the pilot if he can.

Tags: SHIELD, The Avengers, Joss Whedon Follow me on Twitter  |  Follow me on Facebook