Disney has taken full advantage of now fully owning streaming service Hulu as the companies have announced fan-favorite Marvel character Ghost Rider is getting his own series on the streaming service, set to launch in 2020.
This upcoming project will be a collaborative between the streaming service and Marvel Television, a division of Marvel Entertainment responsible for all television serials for the company since Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter.
The series will follow the new iteration of Ghost Rider, Robbie Reyes, as opposed to the original incarnation, Johnny Blaze. Reyes was first portrayed in live-action on Season 4 of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. by Gabriel Luna. It’s been revealed that this series will see Luna reprise his role of the flame-headed demon, however, the story will be one “unto itself” hinting that it may not link to the character’s previous appearance.
As well as Ghost Rider, Marvel Television and Hulu also announced another live-action series entitled Helstrom, which will follow Daimon Helstrom and his sister Ana as they explore their “complicated dynamic as they track down the terrorizing worst of humanity”.
Marvel TV head Jeph Loeb will serve as an executive producer on Ghost Rider, along with Ingrid Escajeda who will also take on the role of showrunner, and Paul Zbyszewski who will be acting as executive producer on Helstrom, with no further details released about the latter.
While this will be the first time Helstrom is brought to any screen, Ghost Rider has had other iterations outside of Luna’s former recurring appearance on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. with the most famous being portrayed by Nicolas Cage in the 2007 Sony Pictures movie Ghost Rider and the 2012 sequel Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Both movies were not well received by critics. In May 2013, the rights to the character reverted to Disney-owned Marvel with no immediate plans to use the character in any form, until Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and now.
These latest two greenlit projects will hopefully strengthen Disney’s Marvel brand on Hulu which already has success as the third season of Runaways was ordered in March.
Animated serials based on Howard the Duck, M.O.D.O.K, Hit-Monkey and Tigra and the Dazzler are also in the works.
Ghost Rider and Hellstrom are predicted to air their first seasons at some point in 2020.
Also read: Every MCU Movie Ranked From Worst To Best
Created by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon, and Maurissa Tancharoen, the series stars Clark Gregg, Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Henry Simmons, and Natalia Cordova-Buckley. Check out the synopsis below:
“The fifth season sees Coulson and members of his team mysteriously abducted to the space station Lighthouse run by the Kree in the year 2091, where they must try to save the remnants of humanity while figuring out how to get home. After returning home, where they are labeled fugitives, Coulson and his team work to ensure the future they saw does not come to pass.”
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will return in Summer 2019.
