Cloak & Dagger (TV series)

Cloak & Dagger
File:Cloak & Dagger logo.jpg
Genre	Action-adventure Romance Science fiction Superhero fiction Teen drama
Created by	Joe Pokaski
Based on	Cloak and Dagger by Bill Mantlo Ed Hannigan
Starring	Olivia Holt Aubrey Joseph Gloria Reuben Andrea Roth J. D. Evermore Miles Mussenden Carl Lundstedt Emma Lahana Jaime Zevallos
Composer	Mark Isham
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	8 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producers	Gina Prince-Bythewood (1x01 only) Alan Fine Stan Lee Joe Quesada Karim Zreik Jim Chory Jeph Loeb Joe Pokaski
Producers	Barbara D'Alessandro (1x01 only) Jenny Klein
Production location	New Orleans
Cinematography	Tami Reiker Cliff Charles
Editors	Terilyn A. Shropshire Ian S. Tan William Yeh Gena Bleier
Running time	42–49 minutes
Production companies	Wandering Rocks Productions ABC Signature Studios Marvel Television
Original release
Network	Freeform
Release	June 7, 2018 (2018-06-07) – present
Related
Marvel Cinematic Universe television series

Marvel's Cloak & Dagger, or simply Cloak & Dagger, is an American cable television series created for Freeform by Joe Pokaski, based on the Marvel Comics characters of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films and other television series of the franchise. The series is produced by ABC Signature Studios, Marvel Television, and Wandering Rocks Productions, with Pokaski serving as showrunner.

The series stars Olivia Holt and Aubrey Joseph as Tandy Bowen/Dagger and Tyrone Johnson/Cloak, two teenagers who acquire superpowers and form a romantic relationship. A television series featuring Cloak and Dagger entered development for ABC Family in July 2011. In April 2016, Cloak & Dagger received a series order for Freeform, the new name of ABC Family, and by that August, Pokaski had joined the series as showrunner and executive producer. Holt and Joseph were cast in January 2017, with Gloria Reuben, Andrea Roth, J. D. Evermore, Miles Mussenden, Carl Lundstedt, Emma Lahana, and Jaime Zevallos also starring in the series. Filming for the series takes place in New Orleans.

The series, consisting of 10 episodes, premiered on June 7, 2018 and will run through August 2. In July 2018, Freeform renewed the series for a 10-episode second season. The series was met with positive reviews, praising the interaction between Holt and Joseph, the use of New Orleans, and the story, but was criticized for the pacing in the early episodes.

Premise

In New Orleans, teenagers Tandy Bowen and Tyrone Johnson come from different backgrounds and have acquired superpowers after a life-changing event that revolved around the collapse of the Roxxon Gulf Platform. While forming a romantic relationship, they soon realize that their powers work better when they are together, "but their feelings for each other make their already complicated world even more challenging."

Cast and characters

Main

• Olivia Holt as Tandy Bowen / Dagger: Template:Cast list break
• Aubrey Joseph as Tyrone Johnson / Cloak: Template:Cast list break
• Gloria Reuben as Adina Johnson: Tyrone's mother who invests heavily in making sure her son has a good life.
• Andrea Roth as Melissa Bowen: Tandy's drug and alcohol-addicted yet optimistic mother.
• J. D. Evermore as Connors: An intimidating scar-faced detective of the New Orleans Police Department's vice squad with a secret. He is responsible for shooting Billy to death when the Roxxon Gulf Platform exploded.
• Miles Mussenden as Otis Johnson: Tyrone's working class father who tries to provide for his family and is also an associate of the Wild Red Hawks. The character was originally announced as being named Michael.
• Carl Lundstedt as Liam Walsh: Tandy's partner in crime and ex-boyfriend.
• Emma Lahana as Brigid O'Reilly: A detective from Harlem with hardened New York sensibilities who believes no one is above the law, including other cops.
• Jaime Zevallos as Delgado: A school counselor and priest who is constantly seeking redemption and questions the life he has chosen.

Recurring

• Wayne Péré as Peter Scarborough: The CEO at Roxxon Gulf who is responsible for ruining Nathan Bowen's name and confiscating his work following his death.
• Noëlle Renée Bercy as Evita Fusilier: A friend and love interest of Tyrone's. Bercy, who is from New Orleans, was familiar with the voodoo culture of the city, and was able to speak to people regarding it for her part.
• Lane Miller as Fuchs: A New Orleans police officer and O'Reilly's love interest. After assisting Tyrone and Brigid to secretly get a confession on Billy's murder, Fuchs was found dead in his refrigerator.
• Angela Davis as Chantelle: Evita's aunt who is a voodoo priestess.
• Ally Maki as Mina Hess: An environmental engineer at Roxxon Gulf who befriends Tandy. Hannah Hardin portrays a younger Mina.

Guest

• Marqus Clae as Billy Johnson: Tyrone's older brother who is shot and killed by Connors the night when the Roxxon Gulf Platform collapsed. Carsyn Taylor portrays a young Billy.
• Mike Donovan as Rick Cotton: A rich bachelor that Tandy robs. He attempts to rape her, but gets stabbed and ends up in the hospital.
• Dalon J. Holland as Duane Porter: A friend of Billy Johnson and sawmill worker who is working with Connors. He is killed by O'Reilly.
• Andy Dylan as Nathan Bowen: Tandy's father and a worker at Roxxon Gulf who was killed in a car accident the night when the Roxxon Gulf Platform collapsed.
• Gary Weeks as Greg Pressfield: Melissa's "boyfriend" who is a lawyer looking into the Roxxon case involving Nathan's work that was confiscated during his posthumous firing. He is later killed by a hitwoman posing as a water jug delivery person.
• Dalton E. Gray as Benny: One of Tyrone's basketball teammates who beats him up when he starts losing focus.
• Luray Cooper as Big Chief Roland Duplantier: The leader of a Mardi Gras tribe called the Wild Red Hawks, who is a friend of Otis Johnson.
• Gralen Banks as Choo Choo Broussard: A member of the Wild Red Hawk Mardi Gras tribes, who is a friend of Otis Johnson.
• Tim Kang as Ivan Hess: Mina's father who worked with Nathan Bowen at Roxxon Gulf. After surviving the collapse of the Roxxon Gulf Platform, Ivan is in the hospital in a catatonic state. Thanks to Tyrone and Tandy, Ivan has been brought out of his catatonic state.
• James Saito as Bernard Sanjo: Tyrone's unusual friend who is an emotional cornerstone in his life.

Stan Lee has a cameo appearance as an on-set painting.

Episodes

No.	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date	U.S. viewers (millions)
1	"First Light"	Gina Prince-Bythewood	Joe Pokaski	June 7, 2018 (2018-06-07)	0.919
A young Tandy Bowen is picked up from ballet by her father Nathan. Meanwhile, a young Tyrone Johnson is dissuaded from stealing a car radio by his brother Billy, only for them to be chased by police officer Connors. The Roxxon Gulf platform off the coast of New Orleans explodes, causing Nathan and Tandy to crash into the ocean, where Nathan dies, and causing Connors to shoot Billy. Billy also falls into the ocean, and Tyrone jumps in to rescue him. Tandy and Tyrone are both affected by an energy force from the rig. Eight years later, Tandy earns money by stealing from rich people and avoids her mother Melissa, whose new lawyer boyfriend Greg is working on a case against Roxxon. At a party, Tyrone and Tandy bump into each other and realize that they had been together after the explosion; the encounter activates super-powers in each. Tandy is later assaulted by Rick, someone she had robbed, and accidentally stabs him with a dagger of light. Tyrone discovers that he can teleport after an encounter with Connors, now a detective.
2	"Suicide Sprints"	Alex Garcia Lopez	Joe Pokaski	June 7, 2018 (2018-06-07)	0.750
Detective Brigid O'Reilly begins investigating the stabbing of Rick, scaring Tandy to the point that she attempts to leave town. Tyrone becomes obsessed with catching Connors, leading to him neglecting basketball practice. He attempts to make up for it at the suggestion of Father Delgado, but his teammates beat him up due to his absences. When Tyrone returns home, he apologizes to his mother Adina for his recent behavior and after touching her he sees her greatest fear: that she will lose him like she did Billy. When Tandy discovers that Melissa took her stolen money for drugs, she decides to rob a wedding to get the money she needs to flee. She is helped by her boyfriend Liam, but becomes scared of their relationship after seeing his greatest hope: that he wants to marry her. As they attempt to run away with the stolen money, O'Reilly arrests Liam. Tandy decides not to help him. Tyrone steals a gun from Adina and confronts Connors. As he is about to pull the trigger, Tyrone unintentionally teleports to the middle of a road where Tandy is driving.
3	"Stained Glass"	Peter Hoar	Story by : Ariella Blejer & Dawn Kamoche Teleplay by : Peter Calloway	June 14, 2018 (2018-06-14)	0.548
O'Reilly realizes that Tandy was responsible for stabbing Rick after deducing that he was trying to rape her. Tandy struggles to recover from crashing after swerving to avoid Tyrone, and arrives home to Melissa and Greg before O'Reilly arrives looking for her. Tandy sneaks away while Melissa and Greg talk to O'Reilly. Concussed, Tandy falls unconscious on a bus. Tyrone meets with his classmate Evita who takes him to voodoo priestess Auntie Chantelle for spiritual guidance. She has him bathe in various charms and spices to induce a fugue state. Both Tandy and Tyrone experience a surreal vision of each other, with Tandy attempting to stop Tyrone from taking revenge against Connors and Tyrone stopping Tandy from running away from her problems. Tandy meets with O'Reilly privately to explain her story, but the corrupt Connors has already closed the case. Tyrone decides to pursue a relationship with Evita. Later, he follows Tandy to the abandoned church in which she lives and confronts her about their shared connection.
4	"Call/Response"	Ami Canaan Mann	Christine Boylan & Marcus J. Guillory	June 21, 2018 (2018-06-21)	0.606
Tyrone and Tandy talk about their personal lives and issues, explaining the visions that they saw of each other. Tyrone decides to falsify a stolen bike report, using his father Otis's bolt cutters, to get close to Connors; he ends up running out of the police station in fear. Otis discovers that Tyrone stole the bolt cutters and, fearful that Tyrone will become a criminal, takes him to see Big Chief Roland Duplantier of the Wild Red Hawks, a Mardi Gras tribe. Tyrone learns that Billy was designing a cloak for the next march and with Otis's approval he decides to complete it. Tandy discovers that Greg, who is already married, genuinely cares for Melissa and decides to help him research Roxxon. However, Melissa breaks up with Greg and when Tandy goes to see him again he is assassinated. Tandy tries to commit suicide by drowning, but changes her mind and uses her powers to survive. Tyrone returns to the police station and asks for O'Reilly, while Tandy returns to Greg's office and takes the Roxxon files he had found as evidence to clear Nathan's name.
5	"Princeton Offense"	Ry Russo-Young	Niceole R. Levy & Joe Pokaski	June 28, 2018 (2018-06-28)	0.509
O'Reilly agrees to investigate Connors as long as Tyrone stays away. Instead, he meets with Billy's friend Duane Porter hoping he will know something that can help. Tandy applies as an intern at Roxxon Gulf to get close to the executives there and sees that many of them wish to overthrow their CEO. Tyrone plays in a basketball tournament, but during halftime he accidentally teleports to a Roxxon party that Tandy is attending. Together theydiscover that Roxxon CEO Peter Scarborough was responsible for defaming Nathan. Tyrone teleports back just in time for the game to resume. As Tyrone plays, he picks up on the opposing players' fears and ends up throwing the game. Tandy meets Scarborough and uses her powers to see his greed. O'Reilly tries to get close with Connors by pretending to be loose with the law herself. After a night with Evita, Tyrone discovers that Duane is working with Connors to distribute drugs despite knowing that he killed Billy. Tandy meets Mina Hess, the daughter of Nathan's colleague Ivan.
6	"Funhouse Mirrors"	Jennifer Phang	J. Holtham & Jenny Klein	July 5, 2018 (2018-07-05)	0.499
Evita and Auntie Chantelle begin studying Tyrone, believing that he is part of a "Divine Pairing" and that either he or Tandy will have to die to save New Orleans. Tyrone attempts to work for Duane, while Tandy becomes an intern for Mina. At Tandy's suggestion, Tyrone steals a bag of drugs that Duane is distributing and returns it to him to earn Duane's trust. Duane then agrees to involve Tyrone in the business, and takes him to meet with Connors, who arrives under the pretense of a drug bust. Connors is paired with O'Reilly, but is able to stall her. Connors confronts Duane about the bag of drugs being stolen, and sets up a situation in which O'Reilly is forced to shoot and kill Duane. This is witnessed by Tyrone, who Connors sees before he escapes. Tandy learns about Ivan and Nathan from Mina, but Mina realizes who Tandy is and leaves. Tandy discovers that Ivan has been in a catatonic state since the rig explosion but is unable to see into his mind. Mina forgives Tandy afterwards. Back at the church, Tandy finds a grieving Tyrone.
7	"Lotus Eaters"	Paul Edwards	Joe Pokaski & Peter Calloway	July 12, 2018 (2018-07-12)	0.538
Tandy asks Tyrone to help her enter Ivan's mind. Together they are able to find him reliving the final moments of the rig explosion over and over again. He is optimistically passive as he cannot remember how much time has passed, nor can he remember his name or Mina. The other employees on the rig had been infected by the strange energy that Roxxon was searching for, and appear in Ivan's memories as psychopathic killers. Ivan believes that the explosion can be stopped from the core, but was unable to do so in real life and has still been unsuccessful in his attempts since. Tyrone is able to do so with his powers, but it does not work due to being Ivan's mind. Tandy discovers that her father Nathan had called Ivan moments before the explosion, and takes the opportunity to talk to him in each loop. Tyrone convinces her that it is not actually her father, and they help Ivan reach the core after reminding him of Mina. Ivan awakens with no memory of Tandy or Tyrone, and is reunited with Mina. Tandy and Tyrone later listen to a recording of Billy together.
8	"Ghost Stories"	Alex Garcia Lopez	Christine Boylan & Jenny Klein	July 19, 2018 (2018-07-19)	0.401
Ivan tells Tandy that Nathan hid evidence to clear their names in a safety deposit box. It is the eight year anniversary of the rig explosion, and she plans to remember her father with Melissa later on. First, she visits Tyrone and his family who are struggling with the anniversary of Billy's death, and steals an access card for Roxxon from Adina. She uses it to enter Roxxon and confront Scarborough with Nathan's evidence, and he offers to pay her for it. She refuses, wanting to clear her father's name instead. Tyrone completes Billy's cloak, and then uses it to better control his powers. This allows him to "haunt" Connors, pretending to be Billy's ghost, which leads to him confessing to the murder. O'Reilly arrests Connors. Tyrone joins Tandy and Melissa for their memorial, but when the three hold hands Tandy and Tyrone enter Melissa's memories and see that Nathan was abusive to her. Upset, Tandy accepts Scarborough's bribe. To celebrate Connors' arrest, O'Reilly visits her new boyfriend Fuchs, but she finds his dead body stuffed in a fridge.
9	"Back Breaker"	Unknown	Unknown	July 26, 2018 (2018-07-26)	N/A
10	"Colony Collapse"	Unknown	Unknown	August 2, 2018 (2018-08-02)	N/A

Wayne Yip directed an episode in the series.

Production

Development

At San Diego Comic-Con International 2011, head of Marvel Television Jeph Loeb announced the series Cloak & Dagger was in development at ABC Family. The series, which would be set in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans, would follow Cloak and Dagger as the two "find each other and realize that their powers both complement and complicate their lives." In April 2016, the series received a straight-to-series order for Freeform, the new name of ABC Family, from ABC Signature Studios and Marvel Television, with the search for a showrunner underway. The order consisted of 10 episodes. By August 2016, Joe Pokaski had signed on to the series as showrunner and executive producer, with Loeb and Jim Chory also serving as executive producers. Alan Fine, Stan Lee, Joe Quesada, and Karim Zreik also serve as executive producers, while Jenny Klein produces the series.

On July 20, 2018, Freeform renewed the series for a 10-episode second season. The announcement trailer for the season teased the inclusion of Brigid O'Reilly's alter ego from the comics, Mayhem.

Writing

Writing for Cloak & Dagger began by the end of August 2016, with Pokaski re-writing his initial script that November. When announcing the series, Freeform called it their "first venture into the Marvel Cinematic Universe", and described it as a "superhero love story", a premise that Variety called "a seamless fit for Freeform" given the channel's target audience of "Becomers" (the 14–34 age demographic). Addressing this, Loeb said, "It's a love story that happens to have characters that have always traditionally been in that age group. It's not like we took something and made it into a [young adult fiction (YA)]. It speaks to a YA audience and is a YA property. Would I do Punisher on Freeform? I don't think that's going to connect the same way." Olivia Holt felt the series explored "the story of what a white female is going through in 2018 and what a black young male is going through in 2018. We see these characters unfold into themselves in the most complex ways". Pokaski created an 80-page "bible" for the first season, feeling he followed a good portion of it, while still allowing himself and the writers the ability to deviate from it if better story points arose. Pokaski was pleased with the diversity of the writers for the series, as they could "represent things that I don’t understand". With a majority of black writers, they could "really talk about issues" such as "the story of two young men, driving through New Orleans and talking about their reality and how justice is for other people", while the women writers "really keep [Pokaski] honest as to how to push the envelope and tell the story of a young woman who’s a superhero".

Pokaski spoke about the differences in Cloak and Dagger's origin story from the comics, saying, "I think the original [comic] stories were fantastic, but for the time, while they were a little progressive, they were a little bit sexist and racist once you got into it, for now. What we tried to do was deconstruct it and make it about Tandy and Tyrone, understand who they were." He also felt Loeb's idea of having the duo live in New Orleans, opposed to New York City as in the comics, was a "great idea". Pokaski did not want to rush the romantic relationship between the duo, insisting that the season is "more about finding your best friend... this show is about ‘There’s exactly one person who understands me.'” He also hoped the series would last long enough to allow for “an interesting path to their relationship.” Structurally for the series, Pokaski felt the first four episodes was the series first act, where viewers get to understand Tandy and Tyrone individually, the next three "are about them coming together comprehensively, not only as a team, but as best friends", before concluding with the last three episodes.

Regarding a second season, Pokaski noted "Colony Collapse" would leave "some stuff open, intentionally" though its post-credit scene is "tremendously definitive... that will help define some of the" direction for a potential second season. Pokaski has an intent to create 100 episodes for the series, with "a definitive plan for five season" created.

Casting

Olivia Holt and Aubrey Joseph at WonderCon 2018 promoting Cloak & Dagger

In January 2017, it was announced that Olivia Holt and Aubrey Joseph had been cast as Tandy Bowen / Dagger and Tyrone Johnson / Cloak, respectively. Gina Prince-Bythewood, the director of the first episode, called the casting process "really, really tough… it was three days before we were supposed to leave [to begin filming] and we didn't find [actors for Tandy and Tyrone]. People started getting willing to settle and the people that were on the table were 27, 28. They felt grown and it didn't feel right for the show. Then Aubrey and Olivia walked in the door, and they had such great chops individually".

The following month, Andrea Roth was cast as Melissa Bowen, Tandy's mother; Gloria Reuben and Miles Mussenden were cast as Tyrone's parents, Adina and Otis Johnson; and Carl Lundstedt and J. D. Evermore were cast as Liam Walsh and Connors, respectively. Emma Lahana and Jaime Zevallos also star as Brigid O'Reilly and Delgado.

Noëlle Renée Bercy recurs in the series as Evita Fusilier, along with Wayne Péré as Peter Scarborough, Lane Miller as Fuchs, Angela Davis as Chantelle, and Ally Maki as Mina Hess. James Saito also appears in the series as Bernard Sanjo.

Filming

Filming for the series had begun by February 8, 2017, in New Orleans, under the working title Shadows. In December 2016, Disney planned to spend $11.2 million, of a total $42 million budget for the first season of the show, in Louisiana, over an 86-day filming period. Filming on the pilot episode wrapped on February 24, 2017. Photography on the remainder of the first season resumed in New Orleans on July 24. Filming locations included the Le Pavillon Hotel. Filming officially wrapped on November 2. The season features many hand-held camera shots that established the "look and feel" of the series, in part because Pokaski "didn’t want to wait for a dolly track to be laid".

Music

Mark Isham announced in May 2017 that he would compose the music for the series, having previously collaborated with the show's premiere director Gina Prince-Bythewood on the films The Secret Life of Bees and Beyond the Lights. Isham described the series as "extremely character driven" and focused on the difficult childhoods of the title characters, so his score is "dark, but also young enough to keep up with the teenage cast." The score was expected to have "a jazzy New Orleans flair." An album featuring Isham's score was released digitally by Marvel Music and Hollywood Records on July 6, 2018.

Cloak & Dagger (Original Score)

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Before and After"	1:31
2.	"Waiting"	2:16
3.	"Disasters"	3:45
4.	"Tandy’s House"	2:12
5.	"Touch or Not Touch"	2:15
6.	"Newfound Powers"	4:09
7.	"There Is No We"	1:56
8.	"Marie Laveau"	1:35
9.	"Face This"	1:59
10.	"Money Trawl"	1:25
11.	"Remembering"	2:06
12.	"Cloak"	3:37
13.	"Telltale Heart"	3:20
14.	"Check Your Privilege"	1:52
15.	"Tandy Talks"	3:10
16.	"Breakdown"	1:00
17.	"Suicide"	1:30
18.	"Dads"	4:05
19.	"Eight Years Ago"	2:16
20.	"Darkness"	3:20
21.	"Hopes"	1:31
22.	"What About the Kids"	1:57
23.	"Call to Action"	3:03
24.	"One Lives, One Dies"	3:08
25.	"Hoodie"	2:21

Additionally, multiple songs are featured throughout the series. Some of these were collected and released on a digital soundtrack album on June 8, 2018, by Marvel Music and Hollywood Records. The release includes series' star Olivia Holt's cover of the song "Come Sail Away".

Cloak & Dagger (Original Television Series Soundtrack)

No.	Title	Artist(s)	Length
1.	"Come Sail Away"	Olivia Holt	5:38
2.	"Arise"	The Siege	2:11
3.	"Leave the Light On"	Overcoats	3:18
4.	"Trigger"	Ruelle	3:15
5.	"Quiet"	MILCK	3:22
6.	"Get What I Came For"	The Phantoms	2:50
7.	"Run Wild"	Thutmose & NoMBe	2:41
8.	"To The Grave"	Bea Miller & Mike Stud	3:56
9.	"Home"	morgxn	3:35
10.	"It’s a Crying Shame"	The Roues Brothers	2:23
11.	"Harlem"	The Cathedrals	4:05
12.	"Ending"	Isak Danielson	4:10

Marvel Cinematic Universe tie-ins

Freeform executive Karey Burke said in April 2017 that the series is "not particularly connected" to New Warriors, which was slated to air on Freeform at the time, given "their tones are so wildly different", adding, "There are many degrees of separation with where they fall in the Marvel universe. But anything is possible with Marvel." In July, Loeb said there were no plans to crossover, nor to crossover across networks with the similarly themed Marvel's Runaways on Hulu. He added that Marvel wanted the series to find its footing before further connecting with other elements of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, saying "You'll see things that comment on each other; we try to touch base wherever we can... things that are happening in L.A. [where Runaways is set] are not exactly going to be affecting what's happening in New Orleans... It's being aware of it and trying to find a way for it to be able to discuss in a way that makes sense." Ahead of the series premiere, considering the larger events of the MCU at that point, Pokaski said he was "not allowed to talk about" how the series would connect to the events of Avengers: Infinity War but stated "We’ve had some exciting conversations about how we could artfully cross Tandy and Tyrone over [to other Marvel properties]. The beauty of these two is that they can show up anywhere [and it makes sense].”

Roxxon Gulf, a division of the Roxxon Corporation company that has been featured throughout the MCU, is seen in the series. The Darkforce dimension which fuels Cloak's powers was previously established in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter. Pokaski stated that "There are at least a dozen Easter eggs in the first season that Marvel approved, and a few more that I snuck in there." O'Reilly discusses formerly working in Harlem and her friend Misty Knight in the series, while her move to New Orleans is mentioned by her former New York colleagues in the second season of Luke Cage.

Release

Broadcast

Cloak & Dagger premiered on Freeform on June 7, 2018, with the series consisting of 10 episodes and running through August 2. It was originally intended to premiere in 2017 when it was first ordered to series. ABC Spark airs the series in Canada, also starting on June 7, with Amazon Video airing the series in the United Kingdom and select additional European countries, starting on June 8, 2018. The second season, again consisting of 10 episodes, is scheduled to debut in early 2019.

Marketing

Loeb, Holt, Joseph, Pokaski, and Prince-Bythewood at WonderCon 2018 promoting Cloak & Dagger

The first trailer for the series was released on April 19, 2017, ahead of Freeform's 2017 upfront presentation. The A.V. Club's William Hughes described the trailer as dark and moody, "the grimmest entry we've seen from Marvel TV to date." He felt that Joseph and Holt "look like they're game to capture the necessary 'You're the only person on Earth who gets me' vibe" that is central to the comic characters. Ben Pearson at /Film said the trailer looked "dangerously cheesy", and as "over the top" as other Freeform shows. He added, "It also doesn't look very much like other Marvel shows. So if all else fails, at least this will be an experiment to see how well Marvel's products can transition within genres and play to different audiences." Rob Cave for Comic Book Resources felt setting the series in New Orleans "gives audiences a glimpse of part of the Marvel Universe, and of America, that is seen on screen far less often than the mythical realms of Asgard or the sci-fi cities of Xandar Prime, let alone the over-exposed metropolises of New York and LA. The move also gives Cloak and Dagger's story its own space, far from the clutter and the clamor of the multitudes of superheroes already established across" the MCU. In August 2017, exclusive clips from the series were shown at the Edinburgh International Television Festival. The series was part of Freeform's "activation zone" at New York Comic Con 2017. Holt, Joseph, Pokaski, and Prince-Bythewood appeared at South by Southwest 2018 on March 11 at the Central Presbyterian Church in Austin, Texas, as well as at WonderCon 2018 on March 23, to discuss the series and screen the first episode. A trailer was released on March 20, 2018.

Holt, Joseph, Lahana, Maki, Pokaski, and Loeb appeared at the 2018 San Diego Comic-Con to promote the series and present an exclusive look at the final two episodes of the first season. The series also had two different interactive activations at "The Experience" at Petco Park, including a bungee experience that propels participants backwards, replicating the force of Tyrone and Tandy's power when they interact, and a station centered on Roxxon, where participants can create a badge giving them access to prizes from PlayStation Vue and Freeform.

Reception

Ratings

Viewership and ratings per episode of Cloak & Dagger

No.	Title	Air date	Rating (18–49)	Viewers (millions)	DVR (18–49)	DVR viewers (millions)	Total (18–49)	Total viewers (millions)
1	"First Light"	June 7, 2018	0.3	0.919	0.3	0.831	0.6	1.751
2	"Suicide Sprints"	June 7, 2018	0.3	0.750	0.3	0.727	0.6	1.478
3	"Stained Glass"	June 14, 2018	0.2	0.548	—	—	—	—
4	"Call/Response"	June 21, 2018	0.2	0.606	0.3	0.729	0.5	1.335
5	"Princeton Offense"	June 28, 2018	0.2	0.509	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
6	"Funhouse Mirrors"	July 5, 2018	0.2	0.499	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
7	"Lotus Eaters"	July 12, 2018	0.2	0.538	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD
8	"Ghost Stories"	July 19, 2018	0.2	0.401	TBD	TBD	TBD	TBD

After three days, "First Light" had 1.64 million total viewers, which was a 78% increase from its initial viewers, the largest three-day lift for any Freeform debut. It was also the best series launch on Freeform in two years and Freeform’s most-watched drama since "Till Death Do Us Part", the series finale of Pretty Little Liars in June 2017. "First Light" also had the biggest digital debut ever for the network, with 716,000 starts. The premiere drew 7.3 million views across linear and digital platforms and was Thursday’s most-social scripted series with 112,000 engagements across Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tumblr.

Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 90% approval rating with an average rating of 7.77/10 based on 40 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Cloak & Dagger blends soapy drama with superhero grit to create an exciting, surprisingly thoughtful addition to the genre — even if it falls prey to a certain amount of narrative bloat." Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 68 out of 100 based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Early reactions to the first episode from its screening at South by Southwest 2018 were largely positive, with praise going to Joseph and Holt's performances. Alex McLevy of The A.V. Club noted the screening debuted "to raucous applause", and felt "The show definitely looks good. It has some real issues in other areas, but the charismatic leads are the true find, and if the show succeeds, it will largely be on the back of the work they do." He added that there were major changes from the comics, including the relocation of the character from New York to New Orleans and the addition of "parents, home lives, and all manner of other backstories rejiggered to serve the long-form TV storytelling framework." Meredith Borders of /Film gave the first episode a 9 out of 10, calling it "among the upper echelon of Marvel television.... [doing] so with style and powerful storytelling" and felt it was "new in every particular way". Borders felt the leads "have tremendous chemistry onscreen" that she became "deeply invested" in. She also called the look of the series "much richer and more textured" than many other superhero and Freeform series, felt the protagonists' powers were shown "in a really visually organic way", and praised Isham's music. Borders also noted the strong divergence from the comics source material, but felt "the spirit of the characters absolutely remains the same."

In his review of the first four episodes, Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter felt while there were "no superheroes, no mission and no clear bad guy" in these early episodes, he "found [him]self enjoying quite a bit thanks to the solid introductions to the human side of its characters, an often innovative structure, fine use of its New Orleans backdrop and a few moments of real cleverness. If, on some levels, Cloak & Dagger is oddly sluggish, there's a lot happening in these early episodes, some of it fun." Reviewing the first two episodes, IGN's Joi Childs awarded the episodes an 8.5 out of 10, noting, "Tackling a variety of relatable subjects while embracing the thrill of discovering new powers, Cloak & Dagger delivers an emotionally honest and surprisingly resonant premiere. The pacing can feel a bit slower than one might expect or want from a superhero TV show, but thanks to the drama, effects, mystery and chemistry between the main protagonists, the premiere builds a solid foundation for Marvel's newest series." Merrill Barr at Forbes wrote, "Without question, it can be said Cloak & Dagger plays right into the hand of the audience it's gaming for. This is one of the darkest and moodiest YA series to ever YA... Unfortunately, the series suffers from the problem many shows of its type do: it takes far longer than it should to dive deep into the meat of its story." In comparison to the other Marvel Television series, Barr felt Cloak & Dagger "exists somewhere between the light-hearted, broad stroke nature of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and very mature dramatic overtones of any of the Netflix series". Abraham Riesman of Vulture felt "there's a lot going on in Cloak & Dagger, and if it can keep up its pace of invention and revelation, it promises to be your essential superhero watch of the summer." He also praised "Marvel Television's willingness to boil a superhero concept down to the elements that work best and, beyond that, be purely inventive," enjoying the change of location to New Orleans over the New York setting from the comics.

For io9, Charles Pulliam-Moore said, "Cloak & Dagger isn't exactly a show for die-hard comic book purists looking for a live-action translation of the superheroes they love, but that ultimately works out in its favor because that's not what it's trying to be. Cloak & Dagger wants you to see the power in and importance of being able to see across differences—a bit of a cheesy message, perhaps, but one that we could all stand to remind ourselves of more often." He was critical of the pacing, a common issue across many of the Marvel Television series, but conceded, while the "forward momentum from scene to scene is lacking... all of the performances are stellar." Giving the series a "B", Entertainment Weekly's Darren Franich was "pessimistic and optimistic about Cloak & Dagger, and hope the show's openhearted thoughtfulness can energize its rather bargain-bin super-mythology." He felt the series took the "rough outline" of the comics "and cleverly modernizes it in unexpected directions" and throughout the early episodes the New Orleans location "finds unexpected ways to root Tyrone and Tandy in the local culture." Franich was also critical of the pacing. Giving the first four episodes 2 out of 4 stars, Allison Keene of Collider was more critical of the series. She was also critical of the pacing, called the writing "shaky", wished more was done with the New Orleans setting, and felt that attempting to split the early episodes between both Johnson and Bowen, resulted in "jarring edits, half-baked plots, and quickly-forgotten side characters."

Analysis

Upon announcement, Riesman felt one of the show's potential strengths was the fact that Marvel had a unique opportunity to tell a story "without needing to appeal to any kind of rabid fanbase or honor any iconic stories," because the characters have neither "any famous archnemeses," nor "a widely read graphic novel" that fans would be expecting to see. He concluded saying, "Cloak & Dagger could be something unique and potentially lovely: an attempt to build a new bit of filmed superhero iconography (mostly) from the ground up. There’s so much to mine in this genre. It deals metaphorically with the burdens, risks, and liberations of power — and it has the storytelling freedoms offered by high-concept science fiction, fantasy, and magical realism."

Accolades

Year	Award	Category	Recipient(s)	Result	Ref(s)
2018	Teen Choice Awards	Choice Summer TV Show	Cloak & Dagger	Pending
		Choice Summer TV Star	Aubrey Joseph	Pending
			Olivia Holt	Pending

External links

• Marvel's Cloak & Dagger at IMDb