ABC Announces New ‘Agent Carter’ TV Series, ‘Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.’ Renewal

Yesterday was a huge day for DC Comics TV news, now Marvel and ABC have a big, surprise announcement of their own.

In addition to announcing that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. has been renewed for a second season (rumor had it the show was on the bubble after a rocky start -- or at least a rocky year of CA recaps), they're also promising a new series based on Peggy Carter, the British spy played by Hayley Atwell in Captain America: The First Avenger. She'll retain the role in the new series, and it'll share a title with the Marvel "One-Shot" included in the Iron Man 3 Blu-Ray package, Agent Carter.

Here's Marvel's full description of the new series:

Marvel’s Agent Carter, starring Captain America’s Hayley Atwell, follows the story of Peggy Carter. It’s 1946, and peace has dealt Peggy Carter a serious blow as she finds herself marginalized when the men return home from fighting abroad. Working for the covert SSR (Strategic Scientific Reserve), Peggy must balance doing administrative work and going on secret missions for Howard Stark all while trying to navigate life as a single woman in America, in the wake of losing the love of her life – Steve Rogers.

 

Inspired by the feature films Captain America: The First Avenger and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, along with the short ‘Marvel One-Shot: Agent Carter.’ ‘Marvel’s Agent Carter’ stars Hayley Atwell as Agent Peggy Carter. Executive producers are Michele Fazekas & Tara Butters, Steve McFeely & Christopher Marcus, and Jeph Loeb.

Along with the four new Marvel series coming to Netflix sometime next year, that's a lot of Marvel Universe TV. Agent Carter stands out as the only Marvel show with a female lead in the bunch, though. The only other comics-to-TV series coming next year (so far) is iZombie.

It looks like the Big Two have one more arena to compete for a share of: Television hours. With other publishers including Image and Oni also landing high-profile TV projects on cable and even through video game systems, it's an all-out battle.

[Via ScreenCrush]