Marvel Taps 'Euphoria' and 'No Man's Land' Writers for Disney+ 'Zodiac' Series

Marvel Studios and Marvel Television have formally hired screenwriters Amit Cohen and Ron Leshem to develop the upcoming live-action spy thriller series Zodiac for Disney+, Deadline reported on October 22, 2026. The project establishes an international espionage framework following a specialized pair of operatives tracking down individuals who manifest special abilities.

The studio scheduled initial production to commence in London during 2027, eyeing a targeted streaming release window in 2028. This move provides the Marvel Television banner with its first major long-range creative attachment since leadership restructured its development pipeline. The formal hiring also confirms that the series has moved beyond preliminary pitch stages into active script architecture.

Marvel Television head Brad Winderbaum initially revealed the title at New York Comic Con on October 8, 2026, positioning the production as an unvarnished espionage story rather than a traditional superhero chronicle.

Geopolitical Thriller Veterans Take the Helm

The creative selection of Cohen and Leshem represents an intentional departure from conventional comic book adaptations. Leshem originally created the acclaimed Israeli drama Euphoria in 2012, which later served as the foundation for HBO's American adaptation, while Cohen established his profile through tense security dramas including The Arbitrator, Traitor, and Red Skies.

Their most notable joint collaboration arrived with No Man's Land in 2020, an international co-production between Haut et Court TV, Hulu, and Arte that examined the Syrian civil war through the unglamorous reality of Western volunteers, Kurdish fighters, and covert intelligence assets. The series earned critical praise for treating paramilitary operations as exhausting, morally compromised, and tactically complex affairs. Neither writer emerged from the comic book direct-market ecosystem or franchise studio writer rooms.

By enlisting a duo whose careers center on real-world intelligence dilemmas, Marvel Studios signals that Zodiac aims to ground its drama in tradecraft rather than spectacle.

A Grounded Cat-and-Mouse Chase Across London

The core narrative structure of Zodiac revolves around an operational game of cat-and-mouse set across European urban centers. Operating from a production base in London, the storyline tracks two intelligence agents tasked with locating and neutralizing high-risk individuals displaying abnormal capabilities.

During the New York Comic Con presentation on October 8, 2026, Brad Winderbaum described the project as a "globetrotting, international espionage show about secrets and lies and betrayals and secret acts of loyalty and an insane cast of characters."

His remarks point to an environment where extraordinary human abilities are treated as asymmetric tactical threats rather than heroic attributes. The investigative premise resembles a law enforcement manhunt where targets hide among civilians and intelligence networks operate with dubious mandates. Moving physical production to the United Kingdom reinforces the grounded, European procedural atmosphere that the production team seeks to capture.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. Legacy and Comic Book Precedents

In Marvel Comics lore, the Zodiac name carries a dual heritage that bridges occult criminal syndicates and high-level espionage. First introduced by writer Roy Thomas and artist Sal Buscema in Avengers #72 back in 1970, the original Zodiac was an elite criminal cartel organized around the twelve astrological signs, frequently clashing with Nick Fury and S.H.I.E.L.D. over technological super-weapons like the Zodiac Key.

When Marvel Television unveiled the official title treatment in New York, observant viewers noticed subtle avian and organizational lines embedded within the typography. Addressing the visual easter eggs, Winderbaum remarked: "For anyone who knows the comics, if you look closely at this title design, you'll see a few clues about where we're going. I can't tell you anything else about it yet because it's a secret!"

The graphic design prompted widespread fan speculation regarding potential appearances by characters from ABC's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., including Phil Coulson or Daisy Johnson. However, Marvel Studios has not attached any returning cast members or announced casting calls for the series. At present, the title hints remain purely thematic references to intelligence lore, leaving questions about legacy agency connections entirely unresolved.

Marvel Television's Post-Daredevil Strategic Rebuild

The development of Zodiac arrives at a pivotal juncture for Marvel's streaming division under Brad Winderbaum's overhauled executive structure. Throughout 2024, the studio actively phased out its initial streaming philosophy of treating episodic series as six-hour fragmented feature films, replacing that chaotic process with traditional showrunners, formal pilot orders, and multi-season bibles.

The current live-action television slate reflects this tightening cycle. Daredevil: Born Again is currently mapped to conclude its street-level Hell's Kitchen narrative with its upcoming third season, while the Paul Bettany-led VisionQuest remains in production for an earlier release. Beyond those established titles, Zodiac represents the first clean-slate production developed under the reformed mandate to inaugurate the studio's streaming slate toward the close of the decade.

This measured timeline highlights Marvel's desire to deliver self-contained, genre-driven programs that operate independently of major cinematic crossover events.

London Production Timelines and Disney+ Release Windows

Marvel Studios currently plans to establish production offices in the United Kingdom over the coming year to prepare for principal photography in 2027. The creative team under Cohen and Leshem must first complete initial season drafts and pilot teleplays before the studio greenlights formal casting calls for the central intelligence duo.

Executives have targeted an official premiere window in 2028 on Disney+. That multi-year buffer grants the production crew substantial room to refine scripts, execute location photography across Britain, and complete post-production workflows without the compressed release deadlines that strained earlier MCU television ventures.