Among the many things to appreciate about Joss Whedon is his commitment to the actors he’s worked with. Take this news for example – since the demise of ANGEL, casting agents have largely ignored J. August Richards, even though he was clearly fantastic as the vampire slaying vigilante Charles Gunn, but Whedon isn’t one to forget, and has gifted the actor with a plum role in what’s destined to be one of the biggest shows on television come September, Marvel’s S.H.I.E.L.D.

As you can imagine given the insane level of secrecy surrounding the show, there’s no news as to who Richards might be playing, but we’re more than happy to wait to find out. What’s also interesting to note is that the pilot episode was wrapped over a month ago. Is this late addition to do with reshoots, or has the show been given a cheeky greenlight to start prepping future episodes. We can’t imagine that S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn’t get picked up, but we eagerly await ABC’s official announcement.

In a move perhaps designed so as not to confuse those viewers tuning in to see the further exploits of Vic Mackey and friends, ABC have announced that the show will now be officially known as MARVEL’S AGENTS OF S.H.I.E.L.D. Unnecessary company pre-fix aside, we don’t have a problem with the change at all. More excitingly, Marvel Studios and ABC have jut issued a fancy new Press Release, which goes into much greater detail as to what we can expect on a week-to-week basis…

Press Release:

Joss Whedon shows us not all heroes are super with “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”

Fresh from his role in the summer’s box office smash, Marvel’s The Avengers, Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) returns to the worldwide law enforcement organization S.H.I.E.L.D. He puts together a small, highly trained, team of Agents to tackle the cases that haven’t been classified yet, the new, the strange and the unknown. That team consists of straight arrow Agent Grant Ward (Brett Dalton), an expert in combat and espionage; pilot and martial artist Agent Melinda May (Ming-Na Wen); and brilliant if socially awkward scientists Agent Leo Fitz (Iain De Caestecker) and Agent Jemma Simmons (Elizabeth Henstridge). They’ll be joined by civilian new recruit and computer hacker Skye (Chloe Bennet).

Prepare for an epic adventure that showcases the hope and wonder of the human spirit. This is a world of Super Heroes, aliens and the unusual – of action, spectacle and world spanning stories. The show will speak to the human condition through the lens of our very human, non-powered S.H.I.E.L.D agents – that together we are greater than we are apart, and that we can make a difference in the world.

Executive Produced and co-written by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen (“Dollhouse,” “Dr.Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”), Jeffrey Bell (“Angel,” “Alias”) and Jeph Loeb (“Smallville,” “Lost,” “Heroes”) comes Marvel’s first live-action TV series, “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.”

Source: TVLine / ABC

MARVEL PHASE TWO Release Schedule:

April 25th 2013 – IRON MAN 3

Nov 8th 2013 – THOR: THE DARK WORLD

(TBC) 2013 – S.H.I.E.L.D.

April 4th 2014 – CAPTAIN AMERICA: THE WINTER SOLDIER

Aug 1st 2014 – GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY

May 1st 2015 – UNTITLED MARVEL’S AVENGERS SEQUEL

MARVEL PHASE THREE Release Schedule:

Nov 6th 2015 – ANT-MAN

(TBC) – DOCTOR STRANGE

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