The first season of the American cable television series Cloak & Dagger, based on the Marvel Comics characters of the same name, sees teenagers Tandy Bowen / Dagger and Tyrone Johnson / Cloak discover their powers and learn that they work better together. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films and other television series of the franchise, and is produced by ABC Signature Studios, Marvel Television, and Wandering Rocks Productions with Joe Pokaski serving as showrunner.
Olivia Holt and Aubrey Joseph star as Bowen and Johnson, with Gloria Reuben, Andrea Roth, J. D. Evermore, Miles Mussenden, Carl Lundstedt, Emma Lahana, and Jaime Zevallos also starring. Cloak & Dagger received a series order in April 2016, and Pokaski had joined the series as showrunner by that August. Holt and Joseph were cast in January 2017. Filming for the season took place from February to November 2017 in New Orleans, a change of setting for the characters from the comics in which they live in New York City. For the first season, Pokaski wanted to begin developing the relationship between the main characters to have them become friends first, rather than immediately jumping to them having a romantic relationship.
The first season began airing on June 7, 2018, running for 10 episodes on Freeform, and concluded on August 2. The season was praised for the interactions between Holt and Joseph, the use of its New Orleans setting, and the story, but was criticized for the pacing in the early episodes. The series was renewed for a second season on July 20, 2018.
Episodes
Cast and characters
Main
Olivia Holt as Tandy Bowen / Dagger Aubrey Joseph as Tyrone "Ty" Johnson / Cloak Gloria Reuben as Adina Johnson Andrea Roth as Melissa Bowen J. D. Evermore as James Connors Miles Mussenden as Otis Johnson Carl Lundstedt as Liam Walsh Emma Lahana as Brigid O'Reilly Jaime Zevallos as Francis Delgado
Recurring Wayne Péré as Peter Scarborough Noëlle Renée Bercy as Evita Fusilier Lane Miller as Kenneth Fuchs Angela Davis as Chantelle Fusilier Ally Maki as Mina Hess Tim Kang as Ivan Hess
Production Development In April 2016, the series received a straight-to-series order for Freeform from ABC Signature Studios and Marvel Television, with the search for a showrunner underway. The order consisted of 10 episodes. By August 2016, Joe Pokaski had signed on to the series as showrunner and executive producer, with Jeph Loeb and Jim Chory also serving as executive producers. Alan Fine, Stan Lee, Joe Quesada, and Karim Zreik also serve as executive producers. In establishing the "look and feel of the show", Pokaski "wanted something that felt intimate and uncertain", something he hoped the pilot director would convey. Gina Prince-Bythewood was close to the top of Pokaski's list, because he had recently seen Beyond the Lights, which was direct by Prince-Bythwood, and felt it had a similar style that fit his vision for the series. Prince-Bythwood read the script, expecting to hate it, but was surprised by it, feeling it was "a story about two messed-up individuals finding each other." She was hired, and Pokaski credited her for "a lot of our look and feel, a lot of our performances — even just making Aubrey and Olivia comfortable and act in a way that feels real and raw".
Writing Writing for Cloak & Dagger began by the end of August 2016, with Pokaski re-writing his initial script that November. Olivia Holt felt the season explored "the story of what a white female is going through in 2018 and what a black young male is going through in 2018. We see these characters unfold into themselves in the most complex ways". Pokaski created an 80-page "bible" for the first season, feeling he followed a good portion of it, while still allowing himself and the writers the ability to deviate from it if better story points arose. Pokaski was pleased with the diversity of the writers for the season, as they could "represent things that I don't understand". With a majority of black writers, they could "really talk about issues" such as "the story of two young men, driving through New Orleans and talking about their reality and how justice is for other people", while the women writers "really keep [Pokaski] honest as to how to push the envelope and tell the story of a young woman who's a superhero".
Pokaski spoke about the differences in Cloak and Dagger's origin story from the comics, calling the original stories "fantastic" and progressive "for the time [but] they were a little bit sexist and racist once you got into it, for now. What we tried to do was deconstruct it and make it about Tandy and Tyrone, understand who they were", to tell "the right story for now". However, Pokaski felt "there is a nobility to the fact that [the original comic writers] wrote [the comics] to show there were homeless children and people doing drugs and things like that. There are some different things that we're trying to shine a light on with our show, but we're in the same spirit hopefully." He also felt Loeb's idea of having the duo live in New Orleans, opposed to New York City as in the comics, was a "great idea". To research New Orleans, Pokaski relied on books, consultants, as well as some of the writers in the season. For example, Marcus Guillory "was a fount of information, as to not only the music and the food, but the vodon and the [Mardi Gras] Indians" while Nicole Levy "grew up with a lot of family [in New Orleans] so she had been down there a lot". The various aspects of vodon inspired the "Divine Pairing" mythology introduced in the season. While researching vodon, which has "religious aspects taken from Africa and the Caribbean to America and hidden under a Christian and Catholic auspice," the writers learned the religion has a duality to it. Pokaski explained, "If you look at some of the Loa in Voodoo, there are some pairings like Baron Samedi is a legend to be married to Maman Brigitte. There are all these pairings you find within. At every point it was fascinating to learn and it seemed like it was destined to become part of the Cloak & Dagger mythology."
Pokaski did not want to rush the romantic relationship between the duo, insisting that the season is "more about finding your best friend... this show is about 'There's exactly one person who understands me.'" The season does hint at the pair becoming a romantic couple, with Pokaski and the writers being "excited to tease what will happen in their future". Structurally for the season, Pokaski felt the first four episodes was the season's first act, where viewers get to understand Tandy and Tyrone individually, the next three "are about them coming together comprehensively, not only as a team, but as best friends", before concluding with the last three episodes.
The killing of officer Fuchs by having him appear in a refrigerator was meant to "throw [the Women in Refrigerators trope] on its head", according to Pokaski, adding the idea was brought about "so we can at least start a conversation about how we can all be slightly less lazy writers." "Lotus Eaters", the episode which employs the time loop concept, was conceived as "a special departure" episode, similar to ones that happened on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Pokaski and Peter Calloway, the episode's writers, "started just riffing on an idea of Groundhog Day meets Deepwater Horizon, and the idea of a man trapped in his own brain." Having Tandy talking to her dad on the phone "allowed her to expose how lonely she was and how much she missed her father", while the episode had Tyrone "embracing her and being positive to her and helping her out of the situation".
Casting
In January 2017, Olivia Holt and Aubrey Joseph were announced as portraying Tandy Bowen / Dagger and Tyrone Johnson / Cloak, respectively. Gina Prince-Bythewood, the director of the first episode, called the casting process "really, really tough... it was three days before we were supposed to leave [to begin filming] and we didn't find [actors for the pair]. People started getting willing to settle and the people that were on the table were 27, 28. They felt grown and it didn't feel right for the show. Then Aubrey and Olivia walked in the door, and they had such great chops individually". Rachel Ryals and Maceo Smedley III portrays a young Tandy and Tyrone, respectively.
The following month, Andrea Roth was cast as Melissa Bowen, Tandy's mother; Gloria Reuben and Miles Mussenden were cast as Tyrone's parents, Adina and Otis Johnson; and Carl Lundstedt and J. D. Evermore were cast as Liam Walsh and James Connors, respectively. Emma Lahana and Jaime Zevallos also star as Brigid O'Reilly and Francis Delgado.
Noëlle Renée Bercy recurs in the season as Evita Fusilier, along with Wayne Péré as Peter Scarborough, Lane Miller as Fuchs, Angela Davis as Chantelle, who Pokaski described as "a modern-day incarnation of priestess Marie Laveau", Ally Maki as Mina Hess, and Tim Kang as Ivan Hess. Other guest stars include Marqus Clae as Billy Johnson, Mike Donovan as Rick Cotton, Dalon J. Holland as Duane Porter, Andy Dylan as Nathan Bowen, Gary Weeks as Greg Pressfield, Dalton E. Gray as Benny, Luray Cooper as Big Chief Roland Duplantier, Gralen Banks as Choo Choo Broussard, and Vanessa Motta as a professional killer. James Saito was also announced to appear in the series as Bernard Sanjo, Tyrone's unusual friend who is an emotional cornerstone in his life but ultimately did not appear in the series. Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance through an on-set painting. An alternate cameo considered was having a papier-mâché Mardi Gras head of Lee appear in the final episode during the Mardi Gras warehouse confrontation.
Filming Filming for the season had begun by February 8, 2017, in New Orleans, under the working title Shadows. In December 2016, Disney planned to spend $11.2 million, of a total $42 million budget for the season in Louisiana, over an 86-day filming period. Filming on the pilot episode wrapped on February 24, 2017. Photography on the remainder of the season resumed in New Orleans on July 24. Filming locations included the Le Pavillon Hotel. The church where Tandy lives was filmed in a real church that was being renovated into a music venue during the pilot. By the time filming resumed for the season, the renovation had progress to where the series could no longer film at the location, so production designer Meghan Rogers rebuilt the set on a soundstage from dimensions and pictures taken from the church.
Filming officially wrapped on November 2. Tami Reiker served as cinematographer for the first episode. Because of other commitments, she did not plan to continue with the series, and, along with Prince-Bythewood, recommended Cliff Charles to replace her, who served as cinematographer on the remaining episodes. The season features many hand-held camera shots that established the "look and feel" of the series, in part because Pokaski "didn't want to wait for a dolly track to be laid".
Music Mark Isham composed the music for the season, having previously collaborated with Prince-Bythewood on the films The Secret Life of Bees and Beyond the Lights. Isham described the series as "extremely character driven" and focused on the difficult childhoods of the title characters, so his score is "dark, but also young enough to keep up with the teenage cast", with a "jazzy New Orleans flair." An album featuring Isham's score was released digitally by Marvel Music and Hollywood Records on July 6, 2018:
Additionally, multiple songs are featured throughout the season. Some of these were collected and released on a digital soundtrack album on June 8, 2018, again by Marvel Music and Hollywood Records. The release includes series' star Olivia Holt's cover of the song "Come Sail Away".
Marvel Cinematic Universe tie-ins