Hulu’s Ghost Rider series is officially underway, with star Gabriel Luna confirming to io9 that writers have started work on the solo series that will feature his return as Robbie Reyes. This series doesn’t look to be connected to Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD, where Luna made his debut. So, how much of the character will change, and how much will stay the same? According to Luna, Robbie’s still Robbie, but his world is going to get a lot bigger. During a press event for Terminator: Dark Fate at San Diego Comic-Con, we asked Luna how much Hulu’s Ghost Rider would challenge or change the Robbie we got to know in SHIELD. After all, he spent some time building his vision of Robbie Reyes—one that apparently worked so well, he was brought onboard a reportedly unrelated series as the same character—so clearly there’s something special about what he was bringing to the table. But it’s still a new show, one that doesn’t have to honor the canon of the predecessor. Luna told us his Robbie is going to be the “same guy,” but that the writers are working on building Robbie’s world and exploring his psychology in a way SHIELD didn’t have the time or space for: I’m the same guy...And I know what what worked and what felt good and I want to continue to deliver on that, in that performance. Because Robbie is just a truly great character... While Johnny Blaze was always cursed and he’s like, “Oh, I’m cursed!” [For] Robbie, this is a very empowering thing that he’s in, and he has to wield it. I love that we have a whole wonderful, beautiful writer’s room right now, just exploring Robbie’s psychology. We get to continue to add to the canon, because it seems like everything we do with Robbie is just we’re pushing the canon. He’s existed since 2014. So we’re just adding more and more and more to this great story of Robbie Reyes Ghost Rider. Hulu’s Ghost Rider is one of two new Marvel shows being brought to Hulu (the other one being Helstrom). It’s being helmed by Ingrid Escajeda (Justified, Empire), with SHIELD’s executive producer Paul Zbyszewski also coming onboard. No expected release date has been announced yet. It was also announced at SDCC that Agents of SHIELD is coming to an end after its next season. For more, make sure you’re following us on our new Instagram @io9dotcom.
