Squirrel Girl

Squirrel Girl and the New Warriors

Squirrel Girl and the New Warriors Head to Television on Freeform

Freeform television has added a second show to it’s growing superhero lineup. New Warriors, Marvel’s first live action, scripted comedy, has been ordered straight-to-series, and it joins the previously announced Cloak & Dagger on the Disney-owned network.

The Freeform version of the New Warriors follows the precedent set by the cartoon Ultimate Spider-Man, and will add fan-favorite Squirrel Girl to the team — a airing that never happened in the comics.

“Marvel’s New Warriors have always been fan favorites and now particularly with the addition of Squirrel Girl, they are Marvel Television favorites as well,” Marvel Television President Jeff Loeb said. “After the amazing experience we’ve had with Freeform on Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger we can’t think of a better place for our young heroes.”

The Hollywood Reporter asked Karey Burke, executive vice-president of programming and development at Freeform, whether there had been any discussion about casting actors Anna Kendrick or Shannon Purser — both of whom have expressed interest in the role — as Squirrel Girl. “Those names have come up!,” Burke confirmed. “This network has made a lot of stars and we’re in a unique position with Squirrel Girl and Marvel. The character is such a calling card. I’m interested to see if name actresses feel right for it.”

Kevin Biegel (Cougar Town) is near a deal to pen the script and serve as showrunner. The network has ordered 10 episodes for the half-hour comedy, which is set to debut in 2018.

Marvel Reportedly Developing New Warriors Television Show Featuring Squirrel Girl

The rumored half-hour comedy would put the fan-favorite heroine front and center as a member of a teenage superhero team.

After months of (completely baseless) speculation on who might play Squirrel Girl in movie that doesn’t actually exist, Marvel shocked everyone with the rumored development of a New Warriors television series featuring Squirrel Girl.

The New Warriors
The New Warriors

The New Warriors were a teenage superhero team that brought together existing heroes Nova, Firestar, Speedball, Marvel Boy and Namorita under the leadership of newly created hero Night Thrasher. In its most recent incarnation, the team was also the focus of a reality television show as they fought crime.

The roster rotated and changed over the years with a variety of young heroes — with  one notable exception: Squirrel Girl was never a member.

But according to TV Line, Marvel and ABC Studios are creating a comedy about the New Warriors featuring Squirrel Girl as the main character. The half-hour series is reportedly being shopped to cable networks and streaming outlets.

Squirrel Girl has been the name on everyone’s lips as of late, with Anna Kendrick mentioning that she was down to play the unbeatable mutant, followed by Stranger Things Shannon Purser also expressing interest in the role.

If the rumor is true, the show is very early in pre-production and casting decisions are a while off. It’s unlikely that Kendrick could be lured to the small screen, but Purser would be a real possibility. Or maybe we’ll get a new name we haven’t even thought of.

‘Stranger Things’ Shannon Purser Is Pushing to Play Squirrel Girl

Shannon Purser is having a breakout summer, playing the fan-favorite character of Barb on the hit Netflix series Stranger Things.  But it wasn’t very long after the show premiered before fans began noticing similarities between Purser and everyone’s favorite member of the Great Lakes Avengers, Squirrel Girl.

Purser is a huge comics fan (she even cosplays) and pretty soon. she was stoking the Squirrel Girl flames on Twitter herself.

https://twitter.com/ShannonPurser7/status/757241299049320448

A few weeks later, she made her intentions even more clear in an interview with online mag Revelist.

I think Squirrel Girl is just adorable but at the same time is totally boss and completely awesome. I think people need a character like that. It’s easy in the superhero realm to feel like a lot of the female superheroes we see are grown women who are super responsible and know what their purpose is and that kind of thing. Squirrel Girl is a little bit younger and like a real person, trying to figure out her life and then also having to save the world. I love that.”

Purser joins Anna Kendrick, another celeb who has expressed interest in playing Squirrel Girl this summer. Kendrick recently gained a high-profile supporter when Scott Pilgrim director Edgar Wright opined that she would indeed make an excellent Doreen Green — and he even volunteered a possible plot.

https://twitter.com/edgarwright/status/760988905885822976

Purser is certainly a closer match the the Erica Henderson version of the character that has been so popular the past few years. But Anna Kendrick has a longer resume and is a fairly close match to every version of Squirrel Girl except the one Henderson draws. We’d be pretty happy with either choice.

So Marvel has talented actors crawling out of the woodwork asking to play a character in a movie that has not been announced. Squirrel Girl would be an excellent opportunity to insert some Deadpool-style meta humor into the Marvel Cinematic Universe while at the same time pushing the most family friendly hero that either studio has tried.

We think that this is the type of genre expanding movie that superhero movies need in order to continue to grow in the coming years. So, c’mon Marvel. Make it happen.

Squirrel Girl Beats Up the Marvel Universe in First Graphic Novel

It’s a story so HUGE, we needed an entire Original Graphic Novel to tell it! Yes she’s unbeatable. Yes she talks to squirrels. But this October, she becomes something entirely new – the star of her very own OGN! But first, get a brand-new look inside THE UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL BEATS UP THE MARVEL UNIVERSE! OGN – coming at you from the award winning team behind the monthly Unbeatable Squirrel Girl series – Ryan North and Erica Henderson!

She’s beaten Thanos. She’s bested Galactus. She’s thwarted Doctor Doom (twice, but who’s counting?). But in this all-new graphic novel, she’ll take on her most dangerous, most powerful and most unbeatable enemy yet: HERSELF! Specifically, an evil duplicate created through all manner of mad science (computer and regular type). So what happens when two Unbeatable Squirrel Girls clash? You’ll have to wait to find out, but believe us – it’s going to be NUTS!

Spinning out of the hit series everyone is talking about, THE UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL BEATS UP THE MARVEL UNIVERSE! OGN is perfect for new readers, but also set within continuity for die-hard fans. Presented in a hardcover format, Doreen Green’s first Original Graphic Novel marks another stellar entry into Marvel’s growing OGN line including Avengers: Rage of Ultron, Amazing Spider-Man: Family Business and the upcoming Deadpool: Bad Blood.

THE UNBEATABLE SQUIRREL GIRL BEATS UP THE MARVEL UNIVERSE!
Written by RYAN NORTH
Art & Cover by ERICA HENDERSON
120 pgs….$24.99
On-Sale – 10/05/16

‘The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl Beats Up the Marvel Universe’ — Preview Pages