Angela Kang is buying and selling zombies for superheroes.
The Walking Dead showrunner has moved her total deal from AMC to Amazon and has signed on to supervise Silk: Spider Society, the primary in an anticipated slate of Marvel TV collection based mostly on the Sony Pictures universe that options greater than 900 characters. The collection, which is exec produced by Phil Lord and Chris Miller (Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse), will air first domestically on MGM+ (the premium cable community presently referred to as Epix) after which globally on Amazon’s Prime Video platform.
“Amy Pascal, Phil Lord, Chris Miller and Sony’s recent live-action and animated reimagining of the Spider-Man franchise has represented some of the most dynamic superhero storytelling in film,” stated Jennifer Salke, head of Amazon Studios. “Together with Angela Kang’s creative vision, we couldn’t be more pleased to bring Silk: Spider Society to our MGM+ and Prime Video customers.”
The news marks the primary official affirmation from Amazon that the retail big and streamer is certainly working with Sony on a slate of Marvel authentic TV collection after the deal had been rumored for the previous two years. Lord and Miller will steer the bigger franchise for Sony Pictures TV, Amazon and MGM. (Amazon now owns MGM, so the linear deal is sensible in that regard.)
The Amazon slate of Marvel originals offers the Salke-led streamer a preferred IP along with Lord of the Rings and can little doubt assist the platform compete with the likes of Disney+ and different subscription video choices. In Kang, Amazon and Sony get an skilled showrunner with franchise expertise.
Kang, who joined TWD in season two, was promoted to showrunner in season 9 and steered the flagship collection via its eleventh and last season and developed the upcoming Norman Reedus-led spinoff. The Korean-American writer-producer stepped down from her function as showrunner earlier this yr following the exit of authentic star Melissa McBride. Kang’s cope with Amazon had been within the works for months, which now helps to elucidate her exit from the Daryl Dixon spinoff.
“I’m beyond thrilled to be joining the Amazon Studios family for this next chapter of my career,” Kang stated. “I look forward to working with the executive team on diverse, character-forward, watercooler shows for a global audience and am so excited to dive in to my first challenge — bringing Korean-American superhero Silk to life on screen.”
As a part of her Amazon deal, Kang can be creating a number of tasks, together with a collection adaptation of the acclaimed fantasy novel Black Sun with creator Rebecca Roanhorse set to jot down the script and an adaptation of the close to sci-fi novel The Postmortal by Drew Magary with government producer Scott Derrickson.
“Angela is a pro’s pro whose perspective and creativity we greatly respect and admire. She’s also a hell of a lot of fun. She loves these characters and we feel really lucky for the chance to work with her to bring Cindy Moon’s story to the world,” Lord and Miller stated in a joint assertion Thursday.
Silk relies on characters created by Dan Slott and Humberto Ramos. The collection is impressed by the Marvel comics and follows Cindy Moon, a Korean-American girl bitten by the identical spider that bit Peter Parker, as she escapes imprisonment and searches for her lacking household on her strategy to turning into the superhero referred to as Silk. The present marks one of many first to characteristic a Korean-American superhero at its heart.
The Amazon and Marvel deal marks an enormous rating for Sony and its lately put in TV studio president Katherine Pope. The indie studio has seen its share of broadcast programming decline to some extent the place it barely has any reveals on linear. The studio had been a giant provider to Spectrum Originals — the division previously headed up by Pope — however the cable platform exited the dear scripted house this yr with the exec transferring to entrance Sony Pictures Television. As an indie studio, Sony doesn’t have any platforms of its personal to funnel programming to. The cope with Amazon offers Sony an outlet on each linear with MGM+ and streaming with Prime Video.
“We can’t wait to bring the adventures of Cindy Moon to life, thanks to the creative dream team of Chris and Phil, Angela and Amy, along with our partners at Marvel and Amazon,” stated Pope. “We know this exciting series with new and never-before-seen characters and storylines will wow audiences watching first on linear MGM+ and then around the world on Prime Video.”
Lord and Miller moved their total deal from Disney’s twentieth Television to Sony in April 2019 and, as a part of the nine-figure pact, have been handed management of the studio’s Marvel slate. Sony retains rights to characters together with Spider-Man (and all his villains, like Green Goblin); Venom (the Tim Hardy movies); Morbius (i.e. the live-action characteristic with Jared Leto); and Black Cat and Silver Sable (each beforehand in improvement on the characteristic aspect). Select TV tasks associated to Sony’s Marvel characters shall be produced in partnership with former Sony Pictures Entertainment co-chairman Pascal. Also presumably on the desk: all of the characters from Into the Spider-Verse.
A timeline for when Silk will arrive has not but been decided.
