The Runaways live to fight another day! Deadline reports that Hulu has ordered a pilot from Josh Schwartz (The O.C.) and Stephanie Savage (Gossip Girl) for a television adaptation of Marvel Comics’ beloved series, with the potential for a full-season order. Created by Brian K. Vaughan (Y: The Last Man) and Adrian Alphona, Runaways followed six teenagers who discover their parents are part of a supervillain crime syndicate, and who unite their various superpowers to combat their evil legacies.
The Runaways series has always had a bumpy lifespan. Originally published in 2003, it was cancelled in 2004 but brought back by popular demand, and continues on today. After Vaughan and Alphona left the series, a number of writers and artists, including Joss Whedon, have picked up the narrative reins. A movie adaptation was in the works around 2010 but got shelved to focus on Marvel’s The Avengers. According to Deadline’s report, it sounds as if Schwartz and Savage’s project will follow Vaughan and Alphona’s original plot:
Marvel’s Runaways will tell the story of six diverse teenagers who can barely stand each other but who must unite against a common foe—their parents.
Those six teenagers are prodigy Alex Wilder, witch Nico Minoru, alien Karolina Dean, Gertrude Yorkes (who is telepathically linked to a dinosaur from the 87th century), Chase Stein (armed with his father’s futuristic gloves), and young mutant Molly Hayes. Linked only by their parents’ annual meeting for a charity event, the kids learn that their folks are actually part of the Pride, a group of criminals in those same areas as the kids’ powers and abilities: aliens, time travelers, dark witches and wizards, mutants, mad scientists, and others. Later issues bring in everyone from the Skrull to the Avengers, with the opportunity for countless cameos depending how much Marvel Television wants to cross over with its existing shows.
That seems a definite possibility, since Marvel Television is producing alongside ABC Signature and Schwartz and Savage’s company Fake Empire. Clearly there’s going to be a focus on coming-of-age stories, since Marvel chose the creators of successful TV series about rich and beautiful (and secretive and damaged) teenagers born into (one might argue similarly evil) privilege in the Upper East Side and Orange County. “We’ve known the Runaways’ story would make great television,” said Marvel Television’s Jeph Loeb, who will also serve as EP, said, “and being lucky enough to have Josh and Stephanie—who have time and again created shows that speak so genuinely to this exact audience—write and produce the series is nothing short of remarkable.”
Schwartz and Savage will act as showrunners and executive producers alongside Loeb (who was part of Marvel and Netflix’s Jessica Jones) and Jim Chory (Daredevil). “I’m a long-time fan of Runaways and couldn’t be more excited to bring Brian and Adrian’s characters to life,” Schwartz said. From Savage: “Josh and I can’t wait to get to work for Marvel and Hulu.”
Marvel Television just keeps expanding to various networks, with shows previously, currently, or soon-to-be on ABC, Netflix, FX (the forthcoming Legion), Freeform (Marvel’s Cloak and Dagger), and now Hulu.
