Marvel Television senior vp original programming Karim Zreik teased a few new directions for the increasingly prolific studio on Thursday at the Edinburgh TV Festival.
In addition to treating the audience to exclusive clips from upcoming shows Inhumans and Cloak and Dagger, the exec offered a comedic pointer at one of the event’s popular “game changer” sessions.
“Comedy is something we really want to go into,” Zreik said, highlighting the success of Guardians of the Galaxy for Marvel on the big screen. “It took us time to dip our foot in the comedy pool.”
However, he joked that Marvel would “never do an office comedy.”
While Zreik wouldn’t offer specifics, he also revealed that Marvel TV was working again with ABC — which it has partnered with on Inhumans — on a new female-focused show currently in development. “It’s Jessica Jones-esque,” the exec said, without providing further details.
The session, held on day two of the Edinburgh TV Festival, was chaired by SJ Clarkson, who directed and executive produced the first two episodes of The Defenders and the first two episodes of Jessica Jones. Zreik is a co-executive producer of the first seasons of Jessica Jones and Luke Cage and the second season of Daredevil.
“We want to target different audiences,” and not just comic book fans, Zreik told the audience, highlighting that Marvel now has 14 series. He explained that Daredevil attracts a lot of male viewers and females turn out strongly for Jessica Jones, while Luke Cage “was sort of a mix” in terms of audience and a younger demographic has been watching Iron Fist.
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