Production on Marvel’s adult animated series Tigra & Dazzler is on hold after showrunner Erica Rivinoja and the writing team were fired due to creative differences. Hulu has a slate of four Marvel animated series set to come to the streamer, picked up in February. Along with Tigra & Dazzler, the other series are MODOK, Hit-Monkey, and Howard the Duck. All four series are to eventually come together in a crossover, much like The Defenders on Netflix, in a special called The Offenders.
Tigra & Dazzler is the story of two superheroes and best friends, who work together to try to get recognized amidst the many superheroes in Los Angeles. Executive producer Chelsea Handler will voice one of the lead characters. Tigra & Dazzler is scheduled to be the third show released out of the four mentioned above. Jeph Loeb is executive producing all four animated Marvel series, though his reported exit from Marvel TV could change things. Loeb’s only other Marvel project is Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., airing its seventh and last season soon on ABC.
As reported by THR, showrunner Rivinoja, who was an executive producer on The Last Man on Earth and also worked on Girls Trip and The Addams Family, was let go, along with the whole writing team. The team is said to have already finished multiple scripts, along with outlines for others. They were apparently fifteen weeks into a twenty-week production cycle. Marvel and Hulu are still committed to Tigra & Dazzler but are planning to hire a new showrunner and team in a complete creative overhaul, using none of Rivinoja and her team’s work.
Besides the live-action series Helstrom, the only other Marvel show on Hulu is Runaways, which is ending after the third season’s release on December 13. Helstrom is supposed to be a darker, supernatural story, about siblings Daimon and Ana Helstrom, who dedicate their lives to tracking down the evils of the world. It was planned to be released alongside a live-action Ghost Rider, but the other series has since been cancelled, reportedly because of creative differences. Helstrom appears to still be moving ahead as planned, with a cast announced.
The four animated comedies are not supposed to crossover until the special The Offenders, so this shake up should not affect the production or schedule for MODOK, Hit-Monkey, or Howard the Duck. Marvel remains confident that this slate will come to fruition, though there have been a lot of reported creative differences in the production of Marvel TV recently. Hulu has always found great success with adult-oriented animated series, such as Rick and Morty and Family Guy, so the upcoming slate of Marvel animated comedies will fit in well with the streamer. Tigra & Dazzler focus on two very unique female characters from the Marvel universe and is one of the more interesting series on the slate. Hopefully, this trouble will be cleared up soon, and the series can get back on track.
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Source: THR
