The Inhumans Gets Release Date, Moon Base, More Details

Last week, Marvel announced that the Inhumans were getting a TV show in 2017 and, per THR, now we know a little more about what to expect and when.

Apparently it was IMAX’s idea to shoot the first two episodes with IMAX cameras and debut them in theaters, and Marvel is hoping that the added visibility will help drum up viewership in a crowded TV marketplace. Disney-ABC Television Group president Ben Sherwood said, “We think this is a quadruple win — a win for IMAX, a win for Marvel, a win for ABC Studios and a win for ABC to launch a show in an innovative way and get attention.”

While only the first two episodes are coming to theaters, later episodes will still use the IMAX cameras to film action sequences, some of which will be on the moon. The Blue Area of the Moon is a habitable section of the lunar surface where Uatu the Watcher does his watching, and the Inhumans parked their floating city Attilan there for a little while. It’s not there anymore in the comics, on account of it being blown up over New York City, but knowing it’s going to appear on the show is a good sign that Marvel and ABC aren’t shying away from the weirdness of the Inhumans (and the Inhumans are pretty weird).

If you do see the show on the big screen, that doesn’t mean you can skip the first two episodes when they air on ABC. ABC will take the IMAX-produced episodes and “expand them with additional content” before airing them.

But perhaps most notably, THR says that the show is not a replacement for the announced Inhumans movie, as previously believed. Considering the Inhumans movie was removed from Marvel’s calendar, the fact that the Inhumans have already been introduced on ABC’s other Marvel show Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and the announcement of the Inhumans show, it was assumed the movie was scrapped, but that’s apparently not the case.

Marvel’s shows, both of the ABC and Netflix variety, have very little to do with the MCU feature films, so it’s still unclear how Marvel will tie the Inhumans show in with the Inhumans movie. Marvel has confirmed the show will follow Black Bolt and the rest of the Inhuman royal family, who are typically the main stars of the Inhumans comics, so will Marvel eschew them in the feature film and focus on other Inhumans? Or will Marvel figure out how convince a big star to be in their goofy, sci-fi show for a few years before they get to star in the movie? And who’s going to explain all of this to Vin Diesel, we wonder?

There are a lot of questions swirling around Marvel’s sudden interest in the royal band of weirdos, but we at least know one thing for sure: starting on Labor Day next year, Monday, Sept. 4, the first two episodes of The Inhumans will be shown in IMAX theaters for a two-week run. The series as a whole will consist of eight episodes and begin airing on ABC that fall.