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Marvel Comics’ Runaways, the company’s unexpectedly popular series about a group of teenagers who realize their parents are all supervillains and subsequently rebel, will be getting a long-anticipated live-action adaptation on Hulu.
The video-on-demand service announced to Deadline today that it has a series order for a Runaways adaptation, to be showrun by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, creators of Gossip Girl. (Schwartz also created The O.C.) Show producers will include Marvel Television’s Jeph Loeb and Jim Chory.
First hitting shelves in 2003, Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona’s Runaways followed the adventures of six teenage acquaintances who find out that the boring yearly get-together that their parents host was actually the yearly meeting of a secret society of supervillains. The kids team up, run away and slowly start teasing out the real truth of their lives — and their super powers, which run the gamut from magic to high technology, time travel to alien abilities, or just being a plain old Mutant or Ultron’s robot son.
In the era in which it was produced, it was an unusual series for Marvel in many ways. It focused primarily on teens, was only loosely tied into broader Marvel continuity, and was deliberately written to appeal to an audience the same age as its characters. Runaways also featured a diversity of character lineup nearly unheard of for a superteam in its era, spanning race, sexual orientation, and even gender identity.
Although it was initially cancelled after 18 issues, reception for the collected trade edition of the book was so strong that the series was brought back. It continued even after the departure of its original writer, Brian K. Vaughan, under the pen of such notable folks as Joss Whedon, Kathryn Immonen and Noelle Stevenson.
According to Deadline, discussions of Schwartz and Savage’s television adaptation began over the past year, and their Runaways has been developed under the duo’s current deal with ABC Studios, the division in which Marvel Television makes its home. With Marvel television series on ABC and Netflix, a show originating on Hulu would be a first for the company.
"I’m a long-time fan of Runaways and couldn’t be more excited to bring Brian and Adrian’s characters to life," Schwartz told Deadline.