Marvel’s Luke Cage debuts its 13-episode season this coming Friday on Netflix, as the third Netflix/Marvel series so far puts the focus on Mike Colter’s bulletproof hero, after his debut in Jessica Jones.
I sat down with Colter and Like Cage executive producer/showrunner Cheo Coker to talk about using Luke’s prior depiction in Jessica as a springboard, the appeal of the character and more.
IGN: Cheo, at what point in the Jessica Jones process did you become involved and begin developing the Luke Cage series while they were also making Jessica?
Coker: I think Mike had just been cast, and, like I’ve said before, I thank [Jessica Jones EP] Melissa Rosenberg every time I see her for casting Mike as Luke, because he is literally Luke Cage. I mean he isn’t Luke Cage… but he is Luke Cage! So my thing about it is, I couldn’t have asked for a better partner and a better lead actor and character. Mike is so incredibly talented, you can throw anything at him, and he can do it. And he can do it on the fly. He is the perfect person to build the show around.
IGN: Melissa was doing her own show and telling her own story, but did the three of you sit down and talk? It’s an interesting situation you don’t see a lot, where she’s establishing one character on one show, and then you want him to feel like the same guy, obviously, on your show.
Coker: The reason that we never really had the chance to sit down is because when you run a Marvel show and you’re in the midst of running a Marvel show, it’s all encompassing. I think she was in New York shooting Jessica Jones, as with Mike, when I first came on. And I was kind of deeper into it once I actually got a chance to meet Mike. But what was funny is that we’re actually neighbors.
Colter: Yeah, yeah we’re down the block not that far. We met at a place that’s like a mile from our houses.
Mike Colter on Marvel's Luke Cage
Mike Colter on Marvel's Luke Cage
Mike Colter on Marvel's Luke Cage
Mike Colter on Marvel's Luke Cage
Simone Missick, Mike Colter on Marvel's Luke Cage
Mike Colter on Marvel's Luke Cage
Frankie Faison, Mike Colter on Marvel's Luke Cage
Rosario Dawson, Mike Colter on Marvel's Luke Cage
Mike Colter, Mahershala Ali on Marvel's Luke Cage
Jaiden Kaine, Mike Colter on Marvel's Luke Cage
Simone Missick on Marvel's Luke Cage
Mahershala Ali on Marvel's Luke Cage
Mahershala Ali on Marvel's Luke Cage
Simone Missick on Marvel's Luke Cage
Warner Miller, Theo Rossi on Marvel's Luke Cage
Alfre Woodard, Tijuana Ricks on Marvel's Luke Cage
Alfre Woodard on Marvel's Luke Cage
Jeremy Sample, Mahershala Ali, Theo Rossi on Marvel's Luke Cage
Mike Colter, Frankie Faison on Marvel's Luke Cage
Mike Colter on Marvel's Luke Cage
Coker: So after that, we’d run into each other, and we’d be like, “Yo, let’s meet at Daily Grill.” So it was cool, because we got to know each other in the midst of doing this show. It was more about - what Jeph Loeb has set up is that every Marvel creator, whether it’s myself, whether it’s what Steven S. DeKnight and Drew Goddard started with Daredevil, and Marco [Ramirez] and Doug [Petrie] are doing with that character. in addition to Melissa, and [Iron Fist EP] Scott [Buck]. We all get to do our own thing. Each series is our own solo record. But when the Rolling Stones come together, and everyone else comes back... You know, Keith Richards’ solo records sound different. There are little elements of the Rolling Stones, but it’s different than when he does a Rolling Stones record. It’s the same kind of thing. Or if you want to do Genesis, and have it be Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins - comparing what they did solo. You really have the opportunity when it comes together to appreciate what it is because you’ve seen the other elements separately.
IGN: For you, Mike, you got to introduce Luke as part of Jessica’s world. But now, having done that, was it cool to get the opportunity to use that establishing material in Jessica and now say, “Okay, let’s really get to know this guy?”
Colter: What I liked about Jessica is that you really… I always use this example. You’re not always the same person around everyone you know. You go home, you hang out with your classmates from high school, at your high school reunion, and you might be a different person to them. And you might not necessarily behave the same way around your mom that you would with your wife or your boss or your fraternity brothers. This is a different world, sometimes, and people have to change here and there. So when I looked at Luke in Jessica’s world, what I appreciated about it - what it allowed me to do because I wasn’t playing the lead - was that there’s a side of him where I think we saw him in a very vulnerable sense. He was looking for something, a connection, he was in a bit of a freefall in a sense. He was his own boss at a bar, trying to avoid contact, trying to lay low, but at the same time this girl comes into his life and there’s a spark. He sees her and these feelings come up, and he’s hoping, “Maybe this will be the one. Maybe this will be someone.” Because he lost his best friend, Reva, and he has no one. He’s just hanging around and he’s just one of those people who, you see him and he just doesn’t make contact, he doesn’t even bother speaking because he doesn’t want to get involved.
But then he opens up to Jessica and also becomes Jessica’s confidante, and being someone that she can lean on, being someone understanding and yet strong and confident. Letting her solve her own problems but saying, “I’m there if you need me.” Not trying to overstep the boundaries. And then, obviously, the reveal is that Jessica was the one who killed his wife inadvertently because she was under mind control - a complete mindf**k, pardon my French - that, in a sense, gives you a whole other perspective.
IGN: And now we're seeing Luke in the aftermath of all of that.
Colter: Once you come into the Luke Cage series, it’s a different world, because he’s in a different gear now. You know, he’s almost in neutral, because when you start the series he’s trying to regroup and trying to figure out what’s his next move. And then the events that happen in the first few episodes get him going, they catapult him into action. And then by episode three, you see his strength. Not at full force, because he’s not killing anyone -- he’s not hurting anyone -- but he’s getting the job done. He’s not just sitting around watching things happen. He’s being an active part in making things happen. I look at Jessica Jones as a gift, because that’s a part of him that we might not have seen, but we know it’s there, and it’s underneath all the other stuff that we’re bringing forward in the Luke Cage series.
IGN: Did you always like the approach of starting with him as a more of a reluctant hero when the series begins?
Coker: Being a huge fan of the comic - the comic is very cool, Luke Cage: Hero for Hire. When he was in the solo round, it was “Luke Cage: Hero for Hire,” but when he was paired with Danny Rand, it was “Heroes for Hire.” It was this whole notion that, “If we’re going to do all of this superhero stuff, I mean, we need to get paid.” That was always kind of an interesting notion about the character, and then you come into pitch Jeph [Loeb] and Karim [Zreik] and you’re like, “Come on, we’re gonna do this, right?” And they’re like, “No.” So we say, “Okay, so why?” And they say, “We really want you to establish who he is.” And thinking about it, I was like, “Yeah, actually, that makes sense.”
And so really, Season 1 is about what does it mean to be a hero? Why does one accept the call? What are the consequences that come from doing that? And then when do you finally really accept it? Then, once you’ve done that, how does everything else play out? And realizing that and slowing it down, we realized that really, in watching Luke Cage evolve over the course of 13 episodes, it gives you a driving mechanism of, “Let’s watch him become a hero.” So that, Season 2 -- knock on wood or anything else that comes, hopefully, with the success of the show -- allows you to also explore all the other things that would come from everything else now being recognized. Because what makes Luke so different and special, even amongst himself and these other heroes, is that he’s out here alone, with his name and no mask. People know where to find him. At the very least, even with Jessica, she’s hiding behind the fact that she’s a detective. Luke doesn’t have any kind of alias. Literally there’s nothing like that. So you just know if you’re in trouble, go around the barbershop and maybe Luke will help you. But we want to show how did we even get to that? When the cat’s out of the bag, what’s next?
Luke Cage premieres Friday, September 26th on Netflix at 12:01am PT.
Eric Goldman is Executive Editor of IGN TV. You can follow him on Twitter at @TheEricGoldman, IGN at ericgoldman-ign and Facebook at Facebook.com/TheEricGoldman.
