Marvel and Hulu have released the first trailer for their adaptation of Runaways! As in the original comic, the series will follow a group of teenagers who discover that their conventionally smart, powerful parents are actually members of a supervillain cabal.
Personally, I was dying to see Old Lace in this trailer, but we barely get a glimpse. I guess they’re saving her for a big reveal in the first episode?
As we saw in our first look at the cast, they’ve aged Molly up to match the rest of the team, so I’m curious how that change will affect her character. Particularly in the first run, her relative youth and innocence were a big part of her arc, and it’ll be interesting to see how she’ll change over the course of the series in this new iteration. I’m assuming this change was made for practical concerns – stunt doubles, handling the material, not aging too rapidly over the course of a series, etc. – so I hope they also gave careful consideration to the effect on the story. The involvement of series creator Brian K. Vaughan gives me hope on that front.
I’m also annoyed that the casting directors didn’t choose a larger actress for Gert; she’s one of the few canonically fat female comic book characters, and she provided really important representation for tons of Runaways readers. Of course, Ariela Barer still looks pretty awesome in the role, and Hollywood’s ludicrous body standards aren’t her fault; I have no reason to doubt that she’ll still capture the spirit of the Gert we know and love. But, as always, TV casting needs to do better when it comes to inclusiveness.
Overall, it’s a surprisingly gentle trailer, from the music choices to the included scenes to the color scheme. In the original comic, things escalate rather quickly, so I wonder if they’re instead planning to move the plot more gradually, focusing more on the parents’ manipulation and cajoling of their children than on running away and confrontation.
But what did you think at first look? What’d you like? What were your concerns?
Runaways will premiere on Hulu on November 21.
(Via Nerdist; image via screengrab)
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