Monday 28 March 2011

Howard Overman plans 'Misfits' changes

Monday 28 March 2011

Spoilers for series 2 of Misfits ahead. You have been warned! The Christmas special of E4's teen superhero drama Misfits ended with a scene that appeared to promise new super-powers for the five young characters. In a recent interview with creator Howard Overman by SFX, this was confirmed...

Howard Overman:

"American shows like Lost are prepared to end their series' on huge, game-changing cliffhangers, which make the audience desperate for the new series. Too often on British TV we tie things up in a neat package, because quite often you don't know whether you're getting another series before you finish filming, but we were lucky that Channel Four had already commissioned the third series while I was writing the second."
On giving the characters brand new abilities:

"They're all going to have brand new powers. Nobody will have the same powers as in the second series. It's quite daunting because they've had their powers for two series, and you've got to come up with a whole new set of powers. We're very much constrained with the type of powers we can do because you have to think about what works in terms of the character and story, as well as what's achievable on our budget. We set up the idea that the powers are always linked to personality, so even now the characters' choices are influenced and reflect the characters' personalities, or else it just feels a bit arbitrary."
On the likelihood of the characters returning to community service:

That's the look of the show. They're on community service and their jumpsuits are their de facto superhero costumes, so I will be finding a way to get them back in the jumpsuits fairly quickly."
On series 3's basic structure:

"There's one slightly bigger storyline towards the end of series three. I think there are two big stories in all because we've got eight episodes this year. One is a sort of mid-season break. It won't become like other shows where they're saving the world, although in one episode they kind of do save the world."
Overman also confirmed that he won't be writing every single episode of series 3. Misfits hasn't been scheduled yet, but considering the previous two series have aired around October/November, that's a safe bet. Can anyone predict what the gang's new powers will be, considering they still have to be an extension of their personalities? It seems more than likely Simon will be given time-travel, if he's destined to become Superhoodie -- right?