Posted by Jacob Bryant
Since the news hit that Joss Whedon would be returning to direct The Avengers 2 the rumor mill has been spinning that Whedon would also be helping ABC bring together a TV show set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and tied to the Avengers. That rumor has now become fact.
Deadline broke the news that S.H.I.E.L.D. was given a green light for a pilot by ABC. Whedon will co-write the pilot along with his brother, Jed Whedon (“Spartacus: Vengeance”) and Jed’s wife, Maurissa Tancharoen (“Spartacus: Gods of the Arena”), both of whom worked on Whedon’s “Dollhouse” series at Fox. If time permits Joss Whedon may also direct the pilot.
Marvel TV head Jeph Loeb and former Whedon collaborator Jeffrey Bell will be executive producing along with the Whedon brothers and Tancharoen. Variety’s Cynthia Littleton attended a Q&A on Tuesday night that Whedon was at. She tweeted that Whedon noted the S.H.I.E.L.D. series would be relatively “autonomous” from the Avengers films and that Jed Whedon and Maurissa Tancharoen would serve as showrunners.
Being that the pilot has already been given a green light, one can assume (and hope) that if it gets a series order it would be on the schedule for fall 2013.
