Nerd News Social Sits Down With Joe Pokaski, the Showrunner from “Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger”

There has been no post as of yet, as to the exact date that season two of Cloak & Dagger will air, but we do know that the creator would love/is planning on making at least 100 episodes. If they stick to their 10 episode seasons, that’s ten years of Cloak & Dagger!At San Diego Comic-Con, we got the chance to interview the showrunner, Joe Pokaski.

Question: Congrats on Season 2.

Joe Pokaski (Creator): Thank you very much. Thanks to all of the media for all the coverage for making it happened.

Question: We’ve been teased that Mayhem is coming. Where can you tell us that you are heading with Brigid O’Reilly?

Joe: We got very excited when writing the first season, because we know who Mayhem was. Brigid began as a friend, and it’s very interesting as writers to be able to low key tell an origin story in the most ninja way possible. On top of that we have an actress like Emma Lahana, we could have cost someone average or good… but she’s done two episodes of our show, hasn’t even said a word, and she’s crushed it. I’m very excited kinda in a Killmonger way. Putting in a villain that you can kinda relate with. Mayhem, without spoiling to much, is kinda what we wish we all were if we didn’t face consequences.

Question: So you and Jeph Loeb teased that she is going to fall, and it’ll be sooner then you think. Does sooner then you think mean February?

Joe: I’ve learned over my life to never try to decipher what Jeph Loeb says. We can all sleep better. They haven’t told me on if they have decided on a date yet. We’ve talked about how our kids wont always be teenagers, and we’d like to get them bumped out as soon as possible, but people who are way smarter then me programming wise control that.

Question: When you guys were casting was them being age appropriate a major factor?

Joe: Super appropriate, we were kinda crazy about it. We didn’t want to do the Dylan McKay, we didn’t want a 30 year old playing a high schooler, even though he had that cool scar on his eyebrow. It was hard, we needed to find actors of their age, who had more life experience and could just represent the hope, fear, angst and humanity that Tandy and Tyrone have. It took us forever, and you’ve probably already heard the story but we were down to three days til shooting and we got down to those guys. In both of them you see humanity that I don’t think you’d find in anybody, or anyone younger.

Question: There are a lot of intense issues that they are dealing with in the show. Domestic abuse, sexual assault, to drug habits. What was your conversation with Freeform about that?

Joe: They’ve been very supportive I was always getting my Irish up, getting ready for a fight with them, and it was interesting. Even with the staff, I had to send them to the wikipedia page for “Women in Refrigerators” and they were like, oh we like this! I couldn’t believe I had to send it to them. You have to give Freeform a lot of credit though, they’ve had shows about addiction, they had shows about immigration, I think “The Bold Type” is one of the most aggressively feminist shows out there. They were not a fight, every once in a while you have to explain your intent, but they are always wanting us to push the envelope further.

Question: In the series, Cloak and Dagger gain their abilities as a result of a mysterious reaction to the doings of the Roxxon corporations. Normally in the comic, Cloak and Dagger received their powers from a mutated strain of heroin they are forced to take. Fighting drugs became a big part of the character’s story as a result. Did the shift in origin craft the main story of the show, or did the main story craft the origin?

Joe: I think it was a little of both. When I read Cloak & Dagger, in grade school, that’s when the drug war was important. It was a social issue. It’s a different beast right now, so we thought them doing drugs and getting a super power was not necessarily the perfect analogy. So we started talking about what is happening right now, and one of the big things is police brutality, and un-accountability. So we thought that would make an interesting story in the spirit of what is happening in the times. On top of it, Tandy and her family being at the whim of a corporation, since 1982, they’ve become more powerful. It kinda worked out in a way, where our story started becoming reflective of the world, and sadly vice versa.

Question: You are a show that is dealing with an origin but also a show that is dealing with issues, and environmental issues. In the writing room is it decided how much of the story is going to be world issues versus telling a good super hero drama?

Joe: I think the reason I put a diverse writers room together was to make sure that we can have those exact debates. We aren’t just telling a story to tell it. The big thing is we want to see something on television that we haven’t seen before. If we are doing that, we are accomplishing both of those goals. I think that there is so much television right now, so if you are having a conversation about privilege, I haven’t seen it yet on television, so it’s good story telling for me. Part of the beauty of it all is you can put all of that together and put it in the hands of Aubrey Joseph and Olivia Holt, and you can accomplish great story telling, pushing the vegetables into the mashed potatoes a bit.

Question: Have you had any news about Gina Prince-Bythewood coming back to direct more episodes?

Joe: Yes have you heard this, Gina and I have an unofficial illegal pact that, “When are you coming back?” “When Tandy and Tyrone get together.” So she wants to be there, she is an amazing human being and an amazing director, who has amazing love for not just Tandy and Tyrone but for Aubrey and Olivia. We are going to be re-checking in a lot. It’s kinda fitting, that the first time they get together, I’d love for Gina to be at the helm.

Question: When are we going to see that?

Joe: That’s going to be season… not going to tell you.

Our last interview from San Diego Comic-Con with the main stars of Cloak & Dagger, Aubrey Joseph & Olivia Holt,
who play Tyrone Johnson & Tandy Bowen respectfully, will be posted on September 14th. So keep an eye here for that post!

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