Back in 2015, Marvel Television announced that writer John Ridley was working on a secret, live-action Marvel series for ABC.
Known for his scripts for 12 Years A Slave or U Turn and as a writer, Riddle has officially published on the podcast Comics Club What was the theme of the superhero series he was making at the time? Fans suspected, he finally confirmed: he worked on Les Eternals series!
By the way, what does Marvel mean?
My version is correct. He was really weird. There was a version of me, a good version that satisfied me, but that doesn’t mean anything. I think the version that ended up not being … that version wasn’t particularly good. I prefer to be honest.
Ridley is looking at Chloe Zhao’s The Eternals, which came out in 2021 and only made $402 million at the box office (when not all theaters had reopened). Perhaps a TV series would be needed to introduce all these characters, rather than a feature film, even at 2h 37m long.
What was his idea?
“My version started with a vision of a young man, probably 18 years old, sitting for a while. Then he raises his hands holding the drill. He turns it to my ear and starts to push it. leaves from there. .. (…) This is how it begins. Then I think you see another guy sleeping in his bathtub with an aluminum cover.”
But while this adaptation was very different from the film we finally saw in theaters, Ridley admits that it may not have been easy to access, adding that “The best thing that happened was that it wasn’t done to me, because I don’t know if I’m going to be able to have fun.”Because it is a “A very difficult brand”.

Why wasn’t the time right?
Recall that this project was discussed at a time when Marvel was actively developing a series on Inhumans and recently started a series on Agents of SHIELD. Suffice it to say, this type of show didn’t come with a huge budget, neither with costumes and sets, nor with special effects.
If the Eternals series was this weird, and in a context where the budget would be small, we can also imagine that it was probably premature to release such a project, which definitely requires a lot of visual effects.

In any case, the artistic and public failure of the Inhumans series doomed all Marvel TV/ABC projects from the start, including the Agents of SHIELD spin-off. The series arrived at Marvel several years later in 2020 with WandaVision to continue the adventures of Elizabeth Olsen’s Elizabeth the Witch in Avengers: Endgame.
Source: Allocine

Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.