Joss Whedon co-wrote and directed the “Agents of SHIELD” pilot, but will the “Avengers 2” writer-director be involved in the ongoing series as much as he was in “Buffy The Vampire Slayer” and “Firefly”?
Or will Whedon just wander off into other projects and let his brother Jed and sister-in-law Maurissa (and/or former “Angel” showrunner Jeffrey Bell, who is also writing and producing "SHIELD") look after the new TV franchise?
Well, it sounds like Whedon is enjoying ABC’s “Agents of SHIELD” so much that it’s killing – or at least delaying – plans for both a “Dr. Horrible” sequel and Whedon’s long-planned adaptation of “Hamlet.”
Entertainment Weekly just posted online an extra-long version of its already lengthy recent print interview with Whedon, and here are two relevant passages:
EW: Will you follow up Avengers 2 with your version of Hamlet, which you’ve been working on for 15 years? I’ve heard it’s dark and controversial.
WHEDON: That’s a giant endeavor, and I’m not planning any giant endeavors. I feel like some of the family stuff in [Hamlet] is even more twisted than we give it credit for. [My version] is no darker than any other vision, in certain respects. If everything works out according to plan, S.H.I.E.L.D. will be on when the movie is over and then I’ll already be too busy.
EW: S.H.I.E.L.D. is taking the Dr. Horrible sequel spot—what would that have been like?
WHEDON: It would be [Dr. Horrible’s] evolution, where he is now. What it was like for him on the bottom, what it’s like for him on the top. We got a bunch of stuff written, and God knows the actors are willing. But I stupidly decided to make a TV show.
There’s quite a bit more of interest in the EW interview. Whedon talks about:
* the big changes he has in store for “Avengers 2”;
* why the “Avengers 2” script is 150 pages long;
* what he hated about “The Empire Strikes Back” and “The Temple of Doom”;
* whether he’d turn down directing the Boba Fett movie;
* what he thinks might be amiss with “Twilight” and “Vampire Diaries”;
* his struggle with News Corp. chairman Peter Chernin’s likely influence on Fox’s “Dollhouse”; and
* why Whedon has no hope for the survival of the human race! Find all of EW’s lengthy chat with Whedon here.
