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When "Black Panther" opened at the movies earlier this year, it became a box office and culture phenomenon, sparking conversations about the lack of color superheroes on the big screen. But on the small screen, there was already "Luke Cage" Netflix, whose first season was created in 2016, two years before the public falls in love with "Black Panther".
The second season began last month with the positive critical response. The season has a critical score of 84% on Rotten Tomatoes, and the show as a whole has an 89% rating, making it the best-rated Marvel Netflix series to date.
The show follows Cage, played by Mike Colter, a Harlem-proof hero based on the character of Marvel Comics. The second season follows the events of "The Defenders" of Netflix, the "Avengers" team show that brought together Cage, Jessica Jones, Daredevil and Iron Fist.
Now that the second season has come down, Business Insider has been talking with Gail Barringer, the show's producer, about portrayal in superhero stories and about the integration of Luke Cage in the larger universe of Marvel. Barringer also produced the first season of Netflix's "The Punisher" which was postponed after the shooting of Las Vegas in October (the show follows Frank Castle, played by Jon Bernthal, an ex-soldier who takes a deadly revenge on those who have murdered his family).
Read the interview below, which has been modified for length and clarity.
Netflix
Travis Clark: "Black Panther" drew much more attention to the importance of a black superhero and a predominantly black cast, so do you think that this has changed the reaction of "Luke Cage?"
Gail Barringer: We all knew that "Black Panther" was coming out. When I saw it, I thought, "Hey, we did it!" It's so rare to see a black superhero on TV anywhere. The superheroes of Marvel TV are rooted in reality. They live in New York, they interact with their community day by day. While the movie side, it's sensational. Wakanda is fantastic and ours is rooted in reality. I've never had that in my childhood and seeing this come to life, it's so important to me and meaningful to the community. It is important. These stories must be told and you feel fantastic. "Black Panther" was a very good movie, and it made me feel excited for people to see "Luke Cage" season 2 because it had not dropped to this point.
This is season 2 of "Luke Cage" so we had an existing audience. But I think what "Black Panther" did is raise awareness of the lack of black superheroes in the film and the lack of characters and black castings on television and in the movies. We need more, there are so many stories to tell. You see it now with "Atlanta" and "Luke Cage" and "Queen Sugar" and "Power" … but there is a lack, you need more. That's what we tried to do with "Luke Cage" for sure.
Clark: Do you think there is a specific way that this genre can do more for representation?
Barringer: We just need the antenna time, the stories are there, they just have to be made. And it's starting to happen. There are so many different formats to watch these shows, be it Netflix or Hulu or Amazon or network TV.
Clark: Do you think that a show like "Luke Cage" works better on Netflix?
Barringer: Yes, because it's a story that benefits from binge eating.
Clark: And you can have fun with the other series of Marvel
Barringer: That's right, because his character is from "Jessica Jones", which was great too. So you can start with "Jessica Jones" season 1 and see who he is and meet him and then you enter the Gritty Nitty with "Luke Cage". With season 2, we really learned that Luke was a man in his community. What can he do for his community? How to give back and take this gift that you have and pay it forward?
Clark: How important is it to make Luke the kind of character involved in his community?
Barringer: Our showrunner [Cheo Hodari Coker] is brilliant and he had Luke's bow by the time we started preparing for season 2. It's a very Harlem-themed show. Our goal was to make Harlem a character in the series, and to make it difficult for Luke to give back to his community part of the show. And my job is to execute that vision, and that's what we did. We had to film it in Harlem. We can not be anywhere else. Once again, we are rooted in reality and realism. We want to keep the actual places, and it was important for Cheo and the writers.
Clark: Does Cheo have a bow in the lead for a potential season 3?
Barringer: We are just on cloud 9 with season 2. It's so exciting. It's long after we've wrapped ourselves up to relive the moments and episodes we've shot, but nothing really happened with Season 3. There's a seed planted with it, I'm I am sure of it but we can not really talk about it.
Clark: Do you find it difficult to balance the expectations of the series against the expectations of the big universe Netflix Marvel?
Barringer: What's challenging, but in a fun way, is that you're balancing the narrative and on top of that, you throw in the cascades Marvel, and there is a lot of preparation for the stunts – lots of meetings, a lot of [pre-visualization]. And Marvel does it so well because they require you to really put in time, which we like to do. And on top of that, you launch into musical acts that are unique to "Luke Cage". It's a lot of juggling but I like that. It's great fun. We come to meet all these musical acts. We had hip-hop royalty on our set. It's challenging but very entertaining.
Patrick Harbron / Netflix
Clark: The first season of "The Punisher" was postponed after the filming of Las Vegas. And since then, there has been the filming of Sutherland Springs Church, Parkland, Capital Gazette … have these tragedies cast a shadow on the show?
Barringer: I think Netflix and Marvel were very sensitive about this horrible tragedy. I think what made it a special show was the fact that we spent a lot of time focusing on the characters with PTSD and showing that Frank Castle was a nice character. It's a sensitive material but I think the story behind the violence is important and is often forgotten. Soldiers with PTSD really suffer and there is not enough help for them. So I think it was clever that the release was pushed but I think the series was really well done and that it had to be broadcast and show it, because you need to see it. ;other side. It's not about Frank Castle running around shooting people.
Clark: Do you think Luke Cage and those other characters would work in Marvel's greatest cinematic universe?
Barringer: I think they found a nice house at Netflix. It's a good place to work and they allow you to do what you want to do. It's happening in New York and again, they are rooted in reality. That's what makes it so fun to watch, is that they are rooted in the same world as us.
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