CLOAK & DAGGER
Superheroes come as a pair in Marvel’s latest TV show Cloak & Dagger
He’s Cloak. She’s Dagger. Together they are… Dagger & Cloak.
Marvel’s ongoing quest for complete domination of the world’s screens continues apace with new TV show Cloak & Dagger. Based on the comic book of the same name by Marvel writer Bill Mantlo, the TV series follows Tandy (Olivia Holt) and Tyrone (Aubrey Joseph), two teenagers burdened with extraordinary superpowers – and on the run. The pair develop a connection that could prove to be their greatest strength – or their potential downfall.
“Something that I’ve always dug about Tandy and Tyrone was there was an equality there,” showrunner Joe Pokaski tells Red Alert. “You look at famous pairings such as Batman and Robin. There’s always a master and sidekick. I don’t know of many characters that are emotionally equal and need each other and have that symbiosis the way that Tandy and Tyrone do. I’ve always been interested in that.”
The show tinkers with the teen runaways’ traditional origins. In this incarnation, Tyrone comes from a middle-class household, while Tandy is from a poorer background – it’s the other way round in the comic. Another significant alteration lies in location – the duo typically called New York City home, while the series moves the action to New Orleans.
“When we meet them, they are eight or nine years old,” Pokaski explains. “They both have their ‘Uncle Ben’ moment. On the night of a storm, when an oil rig has some complications, they each lose someone they love, and it changes them forever. It sets their lives down different paths. When we meet Tandy, it’s eight years later. She’s as cynical as a human being could possibly be. Tyrone is as afraid and cowardly as a human being could be because of what they went through.
“Part of the fun, and superhero opportunity, was to set Tandy on a path, by way of Tyrone to some degree, of moving from being a cynic to finding hope again,” he continues. “For Tyrone, it was laying him on a path from being told to be afraid – from being told to pull up his pants, be afraid of police and keep his head down – to learning to be brave and a hero again. What I hope we did successfully is put them in each other’s path to challenge each other and help them rise to the occasion.”
The two don’t instantly click. In fact, they couldn’t be more annoyed with each other.
I don’t know many characters who need each other as much as these two
“It starts off with Tandy stealing Tyrone’s wallet,” Pokaski reports. “They start off in a place where they don’t understand each other, and then build and realise – hopefully in a classic teenage coming-of-age story – that they might be the only person who understands. I think about Buffy and Smallville a lot. They both had that sense of alienation. The idea that nobody understands you was the central theme of both of those stories. So, for Tandy and Tyrone, in season one we learn there is exactly one person who understands me.”
Pokaski says the show will feature grounded stories tailor-made for these characters and universe. “We look at how different people’s lives are because of sex, race and class,” he explains. “We need to explore more about police corruption and why a young black man should be afraid of the police, and is afraid of the police. On the Tandy side, we dealt with Roxxon and how the little people get stepped on by corporations. In very short hand, Tandy goes up by herself against the corporation and Tyrone goes up against the entire New Orleans police department.”
teenage scream
Don’t be fooled into thinking Cloak & Dagger is just some old run-of-the-mill tale of teen angst, as the duo also possess some uncanny abilities. Tyrone teleports and controls darkness. Tandy throws blades of pure light. How these two misfits come to terms with their powers is part of the journey.
“In the pilot episode, we see our first dagger,” Pokaski explains. “We have our first teleportation. Then, it’s really about the part of the superhero movie that I love, and always goes by quickly, which is the discovery. Over the course of 10 episodes, Tandy will start having these daggers as an instinct and then learn to control them. Tyrone will be waking up in places that he shouldn’t. He will eventually learn to control that as well.
“The exciting opportunity that wasn’t touched on a lot in the comic books was her exploring peoples’ hopes and him exploring peoples’ fears,” he adds. “The comic did a fantastic job of Tyrone bringing people into the Dark Dimension and a lesser job when Tandy made people euphoric. We’re able to be a little more cinematic. They have an opportunity to touch someone and walk into their hopes, and walk into their fears. Everyone is fragile to some degree. It was fun to have an emotional component to their powers.”
Cloak & Dagger comes to Freeform in the US on 8 June, and airs on Amazon Prime in the UK the following day.