ABC Boss on Marvel's Inhumans Medusa Wig Backlash, Giving Agents of SHIELD a Full Season

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Inhumans premieres on IMAX on Sept. 1 and on ABC on Sept. 29.

ABC has two key shows on its fall 2017-18 TV season slate: Marvel's Inhumans and Marvel's Agents of SHIELD. The former is an eight-episode partnership with IMAX that will debut first on the big big screen, while SHIELD will be returning with Season 5 after Inhumans completes its run. At the 2017 summer TV Critics' Association press tour, ABC President Channing Dungey spoke about the future of Marvel at ABC.

When asked about the initial backlash to the quality of Marvel's Inhumans in the first look photo and trailer, Dungey said, "A lot of the first stuff was a reaction to Medusa's wig. Fans, as you know, feel very passionately and very strongly about that. We released some new footage at Comic-Con that I think has reversed some of that conversation. This is still a work in progress. We're really down to the wire on some of the special effects."

The Inhumans partnership with IMAX is a big experiment for ABC, while Marvel's Agents of SHIELD was at its strongest creatively in Season 5. Is there room for both on ABC's lineup, should they both be a success this TV season?

"That is a high-class problem," said Dungey. "If they both do well, we'll be really excited. What I love is the fact that I have the eight episodes of Inhumans, because then it gives us the opportunity to run all 22 episodes of Agents of SHIELD with little to no interruption, which I know is going to make the fans very happy."

Marvel's Agents of SHIELD will premiere later this winter after Inhumans concludes its run. Given its delayed premiere, it was something of a surprise for ABC to give SHIELD a full-season pickup. Dungey defended SHIELD by explaining its ratings "go up in almost triple digits over seven days" when delayed viewing and online viewing are factored in. Of the decision to give it a full season, she said there was no question: "We're really proud of the show, and it does really well for us here, and incredibly well around the world. We've done 22 since Season 1."

Dungey was asked about the quality of ABC's Marvel shows compared to the high-quality Marvel Netflix shows, and even the forthcoming Hulu and Freeform properties.

"I am a fan of the Marvel shows. I think some of what they're doing and the work on Netflix is fantastic. the tone and the style of some of the Netflix shows is not a very ABC tone or style," she said/ "I think the right home for those shows is there. For those of you who are fans of Agents of SHIELD, that show has continued to grow creatively every season. I feel like last season, Season 4, was its strongest creatively yet.  I'm very excited for what we have planned for Season 5."

Terri Schwartz is Editorial Producer at IGN. Talk to her on Twitter at @Terri_Schwartz.