Marvel's Mystery Spy Series Gets First Details, Official Writing Team

At New York Comic Con earlier this month, Marvel Studios announced that its next live-action television show would be Zodiac. While it was described as a spy thriller, few details were shared about who or what the show will focus on. We are finally getting some clarity as it appears Marvel has found Zodiac’s writing team.

There are also new details on what Marvel's Zodiac will be about: spies who are chasing targets with "special abilities," according to a new report.

As reported by Deadline, Amit Cohen and Ron Leshem have been tapped as the show's writers. If you're unfamiliar with the pair, Leshem created the original Israeli series Euphoria and served as an executive producer on the American adaptation starring Zendaya. Leshem and Cohen have created a number of shows together, including the Hulu series No Man's Land.

The announcement of Zodiac was met with some surprise, as Marvel's television efforts have been steadily shrinking of late. Wonder Man, which premiered this year to widespread acclaim, had its second season canceled. VisionQuest, which is currently airing, is set to conclude a trilogy started by WandaVision. Daredevil: Born Again is also ending with its third season next year, which means fans will have to say goodbye to Charlie Cox's Matt Murdock once again. Zodiac's lack of details is intriguing but also worrying, as it gives fans nothing to be truly confident in. If anything, for the time being, the show seems like the end of an era.

So, what is Marvel's Zodiac actually going to be about?

The only confirmed detail is that Zodiac will be a spy series. In the comics, Zodiac is the name of several organizations, mostly associated with villainous spy groups such as HYDRA. The title card uses a zodiac wheel for the "O" and incorporates the SHIELD logo into the "A," suggesting the infamous spy agency may return. There is no mention of SWORD, however, which has seemingly taken SHIELD's place in the current MCU timeline.

There is some speculation that Zodiac will take heavy inspiration from Brian Michael Bendis and Jonathan Hickman's Secret Warriors comic, which featured an iteration of Zodiac consisting of the world's greatest spymasters. That book's plot involved HYDRA infiltrating SHIELD, something the MCU already did in Captain America: The Winter Soldier and Agents of SHIELD. The book also starred Quake (Daisy Johnson), a main character on Agents of SHIELD. This prompted theories that Zodiac might be an Agents of SHIELD revival, a notion fueled when Phil Coulson actor Clark Gregg shared the announcement on social media. Production on Zodiac is set to begin next year, so answers may be some time away.