Right now a lot of things are happening in Marvel’s television division. On the Netflix side Iron Fist is about to release and The Defenders and Punisher are shooting. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is under production as well. Inhumans, Cloak and Dagger, and Runaways are all casting and prepping for cameras to start rolling. Also, Legion and an untitled X-Men project are also moving forward. (X-Men properties are not part of the MCU, but Marvel TV still plays a role in their production.) Given all that is happening, sometimes information on one show will reveal some information on another show, seemingly accidentally. Case in point, take a look at this tidbit from the Cloak and Dagger press release from Freeform.

The interesting part comes at the end where the release states “Marvel Studios and ABC Signature are also in pre-production on straight-to-series “Marvel’s Runaways” for Hulu.” This is new information. Even yesterday, major trades like Deadline were calling this a pilot order. For those new to Hollywood lingo, a pilot is an order of a single episode which a studio then uses to determine if they want to order a whole or half season. A show might get a pilot and be deemed unworthy of a pick up (see Most Wanted). “Straight-to-series,” however, means that the network has picked up an entire season of a show even before seeing the pilot. These sorts of orders typically include financial penalties if a show is not eventually produced. This means that Hulu is almost certainly taking a whole season. (One caveat, Damage Control was also reported as straught-to-series, but that show appears to have died.)

Given the recent buzz around Runaways this isn’t a total surprise. Still, for MCU fans it’s nice to know that a full arc is coming and the show won’t be pulled midway. Streaming services tend toward the season at a time thinking, but Hulu is a little different. Since Hulu is owned by major networks, they tend to work like major networks, including their propensity to release a show a week at a time. The good news for Runaways seems to just keep coming.

Source: Freeform Press Release