While, I was in California for the Ant-Man and the Wasp screening, I also had the chance to do a few other things. Including screening the 5th episode of Cloak and Dagger along with interviewing a few of the people who make it happen. After watching the first few episodes of the new show, Cloak and Dagger on Freeform I could not wait to screen episode 5. Keep reading to see why I it has my interest. I can't wait for the next episodes to come out:

The Story of Cloak & Dagger

Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger is the story of Tandy Bowen (Olivia Holt) and Tyrone Johnson (Aubrey Joseph) – two teenagers from very different backgrounds, who find themselves burdened and awakened to newly acquired superpowers which are mysteriously linked to one another. Tandy can emit light daggers and Tyrone has the ability to engulf others in darkness. They quickly learn they are better together than apart, but their feelings for each other make their already complicated world even more challenging.

Well, first of all, you should watch it because I loved it and I think you will too, but here are some other reasons:

Something for Everyone

As Andrea mentions “this show has something for everyone, it isn’t just a young adult show, like my friends are watching it and are obsessed with it". Although this show deals with a lot of ‘hard to talk about’ topics, “interestingly enough, I think we have to talk about these things” said Miles Mussenden (Otis). He even goes as far as to say that although the characters are superheroes in this tv series, the things that they go through “are real things that people go through”. Taking a stance on hard issues is a trend the media industry is taking, and I really commend this show for following that trend and bringing to light real issues that face people in our world today.

The Cast

This show offers the cast some “complex, interesting work”, Andrea Roth, who plays Melissa Bowen, told us. These complex storylines created is what she's “really grateful for” as an actress. Andrea plays Tandy’s mom and these two characters have a very unique relationship. Joe Pokaski, the executive producer of Cloak and Dagger, comments about the relationship of the characters (Tandy and Melissa) saying “someone told me at one point that the hardest 2 points in a woman’s life is when she’s 16 and when her daughter is 16 and I thought that was interesting and that’s kinda the basis for the Tandy, Melissa relationship”.

When talking about the choice of Olivia Holt as Tandy, Joe says “someone had pointed her out to me a while ago, like someone shouted me out on twitter and I checked out a movie she was in and I was kinda ringing the bell to get her in for a while… we probably had around 1000 or so people read for each role I imagine so for those two and we didn’t cast until the weekend before we were supposed to leave.”

When Joe finally got Olivia to come read he said, “it was one of the most beautiful things that has ever happened in my professional life." Joe had Olivia and Aubrey come in an read separately “and we all kinda relaxed a little, like okay in an emergency these two will do well together” and then Gina “pulled that cemetery scene from the pilot that they hadn’t seen and she basically said just improv this...and Olivia and Aubrey just talked and literally it was like Spiderman in that Avengers movie like all our hairs started standing up and we were like ‘this is it’ and we were like super nice and political and waited for the door to close and then like everyone just exhaled because we were so happy and we were being particularly perfectionists on this… but it really paid off, we found our Tandy and Tyrone”.

Amazing Characters

The show is built around some pretty incredible characters and Joe agrees saying “I think Cloak and Dagger are like the ultimate crossover characters, they like show up in any book and you’re pleasantly surprised." This TV series is no exception as the characters are uniquely crafted and developed more and more through each episode of the show. When the show was finally made official the crew held auditions and they were very picky, but ultimately knew when they found the right people.

Balanced Directors and Writers

Although Joe did say he personally grew up with 3 sisters and “was witnesses to many versions of the mother-daughter dynamic”, he didn't take only from his own experience to make this the dynamic show it is. Tom Lieber, VP of original programming for Marvel TV, speaks to this saying “I have to give credit to Joe because from day 1 he wasn’t afraid of diving right into issues," Lieber said. "He put together a very well balanced writers room both in terms of gender and ethnicity and he put together an incredible team of directors also very well balanced”.

Keeping the diversity throughout his team is important to Pokaski as he notes “if we fill our writer's room with people who have perspectives that I don’t have… it allows us to take a chance and do some of the things you don’t usually see on television”.