LUKE CAGE Showrunner Calls The Series A “Hip-Hop Western”

I’ve spent a great deal of time (perhaps too much) singing the praise of Marvel’s Netflix shows. They’re fun, well-paced, character-driven series with fantastic writing and great respect for the source material. Going from Daredevil to Jessica Jones, however, I had a concern that they’d feel too similar to one another — that it would feel like each show is just a slight variation of the same show.

Luckily, that wasn’t the case with those two, and if the trailers for Luke Cage are any indication, that won’t be the case for that show either. In a recent interview with SciFiNow, Luke Cage showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker called the seriesa “hip-hop western.” He embellished on this idea, but not before addressing direct comparisons to Daredevil and Jessica Jones:

“Luke Cage has a different feel to Jessica Jones and Daredevil. Let’s talk about the elephant in the room right now; it’s a black show. However, at the same time, it’s a different genre to the other shows to some extent, because Daredevil is a crime drama with superhero elements, and Jessica Jones is a psychological thriller, even though it has some classic ‘Sam Spade’ noir moments.

“Our show is different because in our construction it’s a western. Luke Cage is a hip-hop western because it’s about a man with a mysterious past who would rather stay hidden; a man who moves to a new section of town, which has deteriorated over time. Instead of a saloon, we have a club named Harlem’s Paradise. And inside this ‘saloon’ there is another strong man who is controlling vice and – to some extent – has an amount of control in law enforcement [this would be Mahershala Ali’s crime lord Cornell ‘Cottonmouth’ Stokes], so he gets away with everything.

“Ultimately, when Luke Cage comes to town and he doesn’t like how things are going, he intervenes – even though he doesn’t want to. And that’s when things begin to happen. As things begin to happen, it puts Luke into a showdown with the central figure from the saloon – or in our case, Harlem’s hottest nightclub.”

Actor Mike Colter, who plays Luke Cage in the series, agreed with Coker, but then assured fans there would be plenty of surprises:

“Like Cheo said, it’s a hip-hop western. But there’s also a lot of misdirection from the trailer. Don’t think that because the trailer comes out, everybody is going to know what the show is all about. There’s very, very good marketing in play here! Ultimately, we want you to show up and then we will surprise you. We’ll hook you in.”

I’m already hooked. As a guy with soft spot for westerns, I can’t not like these comments.

What do you think of them? Let us know in the comments down below!

Luke Cage hits Netflix on September 30, 2016.

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SOURCE: SciFiNow (via MCU Exchange)



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