Netflix has unveiled its first slate of films and series based on the stories of Mark Millar, including the multigenerational superhero epic Jupiter’s Legacy.
Jupiter’s Legacy follows the world’s first generation of superheroes who received their powers in the 1930s. In present day they are the revered elder guard, but their superpowered children struggle to live up to the legendary feats of their parents. Steven S. DeKnight (Marvel’s Daredevil, Spartacus, Buffy the Vampire Slayer), who recently signed an overall deal with Netflix, will serve as showrunner and executive producer. He will also direct the first episode.
American Jesus is a multilingual (Spanish and English) series that follows a 12-year-old boy who suddenly discovers he’s returned as Jesus Christ. He must learn to deal with the destiny to lead the world in a conflict thousands of years in the making. Everardo Gout (Marvel’s Luke Cage, Sacred Lies, Mars, Banshee, Aqui En La Tierra) and Leopoldo Gout (Molly’s Game, Instinct) will serve as co-showrunners and executive producers on the series. Everardo Gout will also direct.
The film slate includes Empress, about Queen Emporia, who is married to the worst dictator in the galaxy and escapes his palace with her children; Huck, following an eponymous character who has special abilities; and Sharkey the Bounty Hunter, centered on a blue-collar bounty-hunter tracking criminals across the galaxy in his converted, rocket-powered ice-cream truck.
Netflix acquired Millar’s company, Millarworld, last year and since then has been developing projects with Mark and Lucy Millar, including The Magic Order, which has been published as Netflix’s first comic book and was the biggest selling new comic-book franchise in nearly 20 years.
Millar said, “My wife Lucy and I are eleven months into our jobs at Netflix and it’s everything we hoped for to the power of ten. To see a movie based on your work every couple of years is incredibly exciting, but to see them all happening at once like this and with talent this high-end is just off the scale. These are writers and directors I’ve privately been sending fan-mail to over the last eighteen months so to be working with them all is just enormously exciting. This really is the greatest creative environment I’ve ever worked in. I can’t wait to switch on my computer every morning.”