Syfy’s Deadly Class Gets New Showrunner
by Erik Amaya
When a program goes from pilot to series, some cast and crew changes often happen. But replacing a showrunner is an unusual step in the modern writer/producer era of television. Nonetheless, it does happen; like in the case of Syfy’s upcoming comic book adaptation Deadly Class.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Mick Betancourt will replace Adam Targum after the latter parted ways with the show and Syfy over reported “creative differences.” Betancourt, a veteran of shows like Law & Order Special Victims Unit will work alongside comic book co-creator Rick Remender and pilot writer Miles Orion Feldsott in shaping the creative direction of the series as it produces its first season.
Based on the comic book by Remender and Wes Craig, the series is set at an assassins’ academy filled with the children of mobsters and murderers. The early issues told the tale of Marcus Lopez, a kid from the streets with a lot of issues to address, but expanded to other students as the comic book continued. The television version will also focus on Marcus (Benjamin Wadsworth), who is described as an “awkward outcast full of social anxiety” but “morally centered” as he enters the school. His goal: maintaining his moral code while surviving a ruthless curriculum, vicious social cliques, and his own adolescent uncertainties.
The series will also feature Lana Condor, Maria Gabriela de Faria, Luke Tennie, Liam James, and Michel Duval as other students. Benedict Wong will also appear as the headmaster while Henry Rollins will reportedly recur. Betancourt, Remender and Feldsott will executive produce along side the Avengers: Infinity War‘s Joe and Anthony Russo and Spy‘s Mike Larocca.
Deadly Class will premiere sometime in 2019.
