There has been much speculation over the past two years as to what the identity of
John Ridley's secret Marvel show could possibly be. Theories have ranged across the board, to a reboot of Blade, to Moon Knight, to a Nighthawk show. Some even initially speculated he was showrunning Inhumans when it was first revealed, before being boarded by now-former Iron Fist showrunner Scott Buck.
Today, however, we may have the closest thing to actual news on the show that we've had since the initial announcement in 2015: a Reddit post seeming to claim knowledge of the development of the show since Ridley boarded the project. The post reads as follows:
The pilot of the show is being written by John Ridley, who worked on 12 Years A Slave and American Crime. While it was originally written with the intent for the character to debut on ABC, ABC Studios is also considering Freeform and Hulu as potential platforms for the show. The original pitch began development in the Spring of 2015, but following Marvel's success on platforms outside of ABC, as well as changes to the schedule of Marvel Studios, in particularly the development and delays of the Captain Marvel film, have altered both the original script and the expected release timeline significantly. The script has undergone several rewrites since its initial commission over two years ago, but development is expected to be officially announced soon, as John Ridley will be able to showrun the project himself following the cancellation of American Crime, which he had previously been working on during the show's long development.
Now, while the source is obviously up for potential scrutiny, this is
not the first time Ridley has been linked to a Ms. Marvel project in the past. We also know that, since the announcment of the series, the Captain Marvel film has been delayed until an early 2019 release date. If the project were tied to Captain Marvel, combined with Ridley's other showrunning duties, that could explain the slow development on the series.
Also, as cited in the post, Marvel has produced and released shows for other platforms outside of ABC, with Hulu and Freeform in particular showcasing a more teen-skewing audience that a potential Ms Marvel show would likely appeal to, which could lead to a script rewrite, not unlike the one that was
confirmed to be happening on Ridley's project earlier this year. That, along with the news revealed earlier this month that Captain Marvel would actually take place prior to nearly every previous installment in the MCU, being set in the 1990's, that could also be a factor in a rewrite, given the significant role Captain Marvel plays in Kamala Khan's origin. Whether or not these rumors pan out, however, will remain to be seen.