Summary

Nova
series still happening, Marvel Studios excited to bring character to big screen despite delays.
Marvel looking to cast younger actor for Nova, executive Brad Winderbaum teases character iteration.
Marvel is shifting towards quality over quantity, developing more shows than producing, ensuring the highest quality.

Despite many fans assuming the movie had been shelved, and some MCU fans forgetting it was greenlit in the first place, a Marvel Studios Executive has confirmed that the live-action Nova series is still happening, and that the studio is incredibly excited about bringing the character to the big screen. The project was first announced in 2022, but news has been radio silent since then, with some fans believing the project was secretly shelved following the MCU’s downturn in quality over Phase 5.

In an interview with Screen Rant, Marvel Studios Head of TV, Streaming, and Animation, Brad Winderbaum, was asked about the state of the project. Rumors have recently been circulating about the direction the show would take, with some reports suggesting that Marvel were looking to cast a younger actor, to portray the hero in his early days.

Winderbaum ensured fans that the series is still happening, and teased which iteration of the character we might see in the series. “Nova is certainly exciting to us, we’ve got some great ideas simmering,” Winderbaum said. The executive then said that finding a release window for the series is hard, simply because there are only so many release slots in a year. Winderbaum continued:

“I think there’s a lot of potential there. I love Nova, also, from the comics, especially the Richard Rider era… we’ll see what happens. Like you said, there’s only so many release slots in the schedule, but we want to make sure everything we make is as good as it could possibly be. But I will say that is a particular project we are excited about and excited about developing.”

Brad Winderbaum also touched on Marvel Studios’ new method of developing and green-lighting shows. Aware of their recent shortcomings, Marvel Studios are looking to shift towards a quality over quantity approach, and one method of enforcing this is by developing ideas before projects are officially selected and produced. Winderbaum commented:

“It’s new territory for us, developing more shows than we produce.”

A Nova Movie Has Been in the Works for Years

Rumors and anticipation around Nova’s first appearance in the MCU since the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie introduced the Nova Corps. Fans were desperate to see Richard Rider on the big screen, especially following Thanos’ decimation of Xandar and the Nova Corps. However, fans were left waiting a long time for the character to officially be given his own project.

Related Marvel Boss Explains Why Marvel Television Banner Return is Part of a Big Change to MCU’s Future Brad Winderbaum has revealed the importance of the return of the Marvel Television banner after several years.

Before Marvel Studios’ announcement in 2022, fans received another wave of hope in 2018, when Raf Grassetti, the former Studio Art Director at Sony (who designed the characters in the modern God of War games), shared a design he’d been working on of Nova, which many fans assumed was real concept art for an unannounced project.

Four years later, Marvel fans finally received the news they’d been desperate for, and yet find themselves in another long waiting period as Nova appears to be no further forward in development than it was in 2022. As frustrating as it is to be a Nova fan, it appears that Marvel Studios are taking their time with the project to ensure the highest quality. This should, hopefully, make the final product well worth the wait.