Agent Carter Season 1
Janet Denzel
Hayley Atwell reprises her role of Peggy Carter from the film series and One-Shot, with James D'Arcy, Chad Michael Murray, and Enver Gjokaj also starring; they are joined by Shea Whigham for the first season. In the series, Carter must balance life as a secret agent with that of a single woman in 1940s America. Development on a series inspired by the short film had begun by September 2013, with Atwell's involvement confirmed in January 2014. That May, ABC ordered the show straight to series. Agent Carter introduces the origins of several characters and story lines from MCU films, while other characters from the films also appear.
The first season takes place in 1946, with Peggy Carter having to balance the routine office work she does for the Strategic Scientific Reserve (SSR) in New York City with secretly assisting Howard Stark, who finds himself framed for supplying deadly weapons to enemies of the United States. Carter is assisted by Stark's butler, Edwin Jarvis, to find those responsible and dispose of the weapons.[1][2] In the second season, Carter moves from New York City to Los Angeles to deal with the threats of the new Atomic Age by the Council of Nine in the aftermath of World War II, gaining new friends, a new home, and a potential new love interest.[3][4]
A potential Agent Carter series was initially brought up in July 2013 by Louis D'Esposito, after a screening of his Agent Carter Marvel One-Shot at San Diego Comic-Con.[5] By September, Marvel Television was developing a series inspired by the short film, featuring Peggy Carter, and was in search of a writer for the series.[39] In January 2014, ABC Entertainment Group president Paul Lee confirmed that the show was in development, and revealed that Tara Butters and Michele Fazekas would act as the series' showrunners.[40] Chris Dingess also serves as a showrunner.[18] In March 2014, Christopher Markus & Stephen McFeely, writers of the Captain America films, stated that they envisioned the series, which had not yet been greenlit, as a limited series of approximately 13 episodes.[41] By April 2014, there were indications that the series would be ordered straight to series, bypassing a pilot order, and would air between the late 2014 and early 2015 portions of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., if that series got a second season renewal.[42] On May 8, 2014, ABC officially ordered the series for eight episodes,[43][44] with executive producers Butters, Fazekas, Markus, McFeely, Dingess, Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Alan Fine, Joe Quesada, Stan Lee, and Jeph Loeb.[2] The series was renewed for a second season on May 7, 2015, of 10 episodes.[45][46]
It's a really rich period in history, where this giant opposition we had going for 10 years with the Nazis is gone, and we're not completely positive what the rules are anymore. Who gets the scientists? Who gets the secrets? It's all on the table. Everyone developed these skills in World War II. People became spies, people became murderers. And suddenly the war was over, and they came back, and it's like, 'Wow, I know how to do some shit. Now, what do I do with this?' It's nice to play with that assortment of characters. An office, basically full of people who just came back from the war. There's no telling what any of them experienced last year.
Markus and McFeely stated in March 2014 that the series would be set in 1946 initially, occurring in the middle of the timeline established in the One-Shot, and would focus on one case for Carter. Additional seasons would then advance a year and examine a new case.[41] Despite working on Captain America: Civil War at the same time, Markus and McFeely remained involved with the series after writing the first script.[48] When the showrunners joined the series, they went on a "mini-camp" with Markus and McFeely to develop the series from a pilot script written by the pair.[49] They looked to several different influences outside of Marvel in developing the series, including Raiders of the Lost Ark, L.A. Confidential, and the works of author James Ellroy.[18] Elaborating on deviating from the comics, Fazekas said, for example, "if we're using a minor character or a bad guy from an old comic book, we don't have to adhere to what that character was in that comic book from 1945. Because there are so many different iterations of a specific character, you can't be true to every single one."[50] ABC asked the producers to not have the series follow a "Gadget of the Week or Bad Guy of the Week" model, and instead focus on telling the story of Carter balancing her personal and professional lives. Fazekas called this "such a nice change" from previous television experience, with the group feeling free to drop whole story ideas in favor of focusing on the series' central storyline.[49]
Atwell, who portrayed Carter in Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and the Agent Carter short film, expressed interest in returning as the character in October 2013,[53] before Lee confirmed her involvement in January 2014.[40] That August, Chad Michael Murray and Enver Gjokaj were cast as SSR agents Jack Thompson and Daniel Sousa, respectively,[16] while James D'Arcy was cast the next month as Edwin Jarvis,[8] the character who would eventually inspire the artificial intelligence J.A.R.V.I.S. from the MCU films.[9] Shea Whigham was also cast, as SSR chief Roger Dooley.[19] Atwell, D'Arcy, Gjokaj, and Murray returned for the second season.[4]
The costume designer for the series was Giovanna Ottobre-Melton, who felt comfortable with the series' period setting after spending months researching American styles in the 1940s for the 2013 television series Mob City.[54] She noted that "many comic books were all blended by the color, style, and fabrics" from 1940s New York.[55] Due to the large amount of action in the series, fabrics "with the feel and texture of the 1940s" had to be sourced in large quantities, to allow for the creation of four, five, or more of each costume.[54] Ottobre-Melton's process "for each episode, [is to] read the script first, and then search for historic photos that relate to what the episode is about. Afterwards I chose the fabrics, and then begin to design the outfits."[55]
When creating the gadgets for the series, the writers noted the need to combine the period setting with the influence of Howard Stark, who opens the door to "things that are fantastic for the time period". They worked closely with the props department to develop technology that appears "both retro and futuristic at the same time", with Fazekas explaining that the goal was to avoid a science fiction look, so the fantastical aspects were reserved solely for function while the aesthetic was kept within the realms of that time period.[56]
Filming for the series took place in Los Angeles, with the story's location shifting from New York City to Los Angeles with the second season to capitalize on this.[57][58] Gabriel Beristain, cinematographer for the One-Shot and the first season of the series, used a combination of modern digital technology and traditional analog techniques to replicate the feel of classic films that are set in the 1940s, but to also have the convenience and consistency of modern technology, such as using the Arri Alexa digital camera, along with Leica Camera lenses and silk-stocking diffusion nets.[59][60] Edward J. Pei took over as cinematographer for the second season.[61] Stunt coordinator Casey O'Neill, who also worked on the One-Shot and Captain America: The Winter Soldier, incorporated the specific fighting styles of the characters, such as the more "CIA-trained" fighting of Carter or the more acrobatic, "Black Widow"-inspired style of antagonist Dottie Underwood.[62][63]
Sheena Duggal served as visual effect supervisor, returning in the same capacity from the Agent Carter One-Shot,[64] with the visual effects for the series created by Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), Base FX,[65] and later DNeg TV.[66][67] Duggal worked closest with ILM, who coordinated with Base and DNeg to ensure a "seamless workflow". The majority of the series' visual effects work focuses on set extensions to depict the period setting, as well as the more fantastical aspects such as Howard Stark's inventions,[66] or Zero Matter and Jason Wilkes' intangibility in the second season.[67]
In June 2014, Christopher Lennertz, who composed the music for the Agent Carter One-Shot, talked about potentially working on the series, saying, D'Esposito "told me last summer at Comic-Con that there was a possibility this was going to become a series. And he said that if he was going to be involved, he wanted me to be involved, too."[68] In September 2014, Lennertz officially signed on to compose for the series.[69] Lennertz combined all the different style elements of the show in the music, such as mixing jazz and period elements, with orchestra and electronic elements. Lennertz said, the music is "always done from a sense of being sort of in control and savvy and clever, rather than just being strong or just having a superpower or sort of being so much further along than anybody else physically. Part of it was just trying to make it that she's just smarter than everybody else. She's got such command over so many of these situations, and that was the most important thing was to give her that personality."[70] A soundtrack album for the first season was released on iTunes on December 11, 2015,[71] and the single "Whatcha Gonna Do (It's Up to You)" from the second season was released on March 18, 2016.[72]
We work really closely with Eric Carroll in Marvel Studios. He's sort of the guy who tells us, "Well, you can't really do this to that thing, because that's going to step on this project. But what if you do this?" They're really generous with that world.
Because Carter originated from the films, Fazekas said Marvel Studios co-presidents Feige and D'Esposito were very invested in the production of the series and called them "really collaborative and very generous with their world".[50] Markus, talking about the series' place in the greater architecture of the MCU, later said, "you really only need to drop the tiniest bit of hint and its connected. You don't have to go, 'Howard Stark's wearing the same pants that Tony wears!' ... Everything is enhanced just by the knowledge that its all connected."[48] Butters said, "We always want to feel like you see us as a piece of [the MCU]. But because of our time period, we kind of are on our own a little bit."[74]
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