No Playing it Safe on 'Luke Cage,' Writer and Marvel TV Head Say
With Luke Cage reaching Netflix users this month, fans will get to see the character in the foreground following his debut in Jessica Jones. Writer Cheo Hodari Coker has told EW that the show doesn't play it safe when it comes to its social commentary and real-world issues, such as those that plague African-American communities.
“We’re doing things that people are thinking about and not just playing it safe,” he said. “People need to see themselves or feel like they’re being represented in a real, honest, and three-dimensional way.
“When I think about what’s going on in the world right now, the world is ready for a bulletproof black man.” It comes on three back of a string of recent deaths of black men. Marvel TV head Jeph Loeb shares similar sentiments.
“It really is incumbent on us to make sure each show has a different feeling to it. when we brought in [showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker], one of the things that we talked about was what makes Luke different.
“You can't set out to do Luke Cage and not deal with the reality of what's going on in this country, and what's going on in general,” he said. “It's not what the show's about, but if we can get our message out, which is, 'This is all one planet, and we're going to have figure it out' — you just can't put up walls and try to figure it out that way. We made a show which has great fun, great action, all the things that you want out of Luke Cage.”
Source: Comicbook
