Recently held up as “The Wire of Marvel television,” there’s a crackle of superheroic excitement swirling around the studio’s premiere of Luke Cage, the third solo series under The Defenders umbrella.
Set to make its bow on September 30, showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker and Simone Missick – who stars opposite Mike Colter’s title lead as Misty Knight – recently spoke to Comic Book Resources about the nature of Luke Cage, and how it’s “completely different” to anything Marvel has released to date (read: Daredevil and Jessica Jones).
First up, Missick began by addressing the change in location, with Luke Cage poised to usher Marvelites away from Hell’s Kitchen for the time being and onto the streets of Harlem – a setting with its own personality.
The colors, the feel, the sounds — everything about this show is its own thing. Harlem is a character in this show. All the other shows took place in Hell’s Kitchen; this is the first one that’s taking place in Harlem, and you definitely feel that. You feel that in the music, in the conversation, in the characters, everything. It’s its own thing. Luke Cage is something completely new.
Coker, meanwhile, stated that a unique identity is “really the vibe of the show — on one hand, we’re dealing with Harlem in ways that really haven’t been dealt with. But at the same time, it’s a superhero show. At the same time, you get to meet Luke Cage. You get to meet Misty Knight. You get to meet all these other characters. It’s these comics come to life with a hip-hop vibe. It’s incredibly fun.”
Marvel and Netflix will unleash Mike Colter’s hero for hire when Luke Cage premieres on September 30. Expect Colter to join forces with Jessica Jones once again – along with Daredevil (Charlie Cox) and Iron Fist (Finn Jones) – once The Defenders officially enters production before the year’s end.