Those looking for more Hayley Atwell and more ‘Carter’ may have got their wish… with a twist. The actress will head a different character named Carter for ABC’s Conviction...
It’s true that Marvel’s Agent Carter hasn’t been the ratings juggernaut that some might have hoped for. However, currently in its second mini-season in the US, the action show has a loyal following and affection from critics that can be firmly laid at the feet of its titular star Hayley Atwell and the breezy style of its post WWII California setting. It also doesn’t hurt the show that the ratings improve dramatically when longer study periods are calculated and ‘recorded’ or ‘Live+3’ and ‘Live+7’ ratings are taken into account.
So it could be considered good news that we’ll have more ‘Carter’ from the actress in the future… though the catch is… it’s another character entirely and not even a Marvel show.
It’s been announced that Atwell has been cast to play the lead character of Carter Morrison in the new ABC drama Conviction. This Carter is the daughter of an ex-President who is blackmailed into taking a job as the head of CIU, a newly-formed Conviction Integrity Unit, which has a remit to fully explore cases where there’s been a miscarriage of justice and that an innocent person may be behind bars. The pilot for Conviction has been written by Liz Friedman with a similarly-named Liz Friedlander directing.
What will this mean for Peggy Carter and her own brand of derring-do? That depends. Currently there’s no confirmation of a third season of the Marvel show and Conviction could still find itself not picked up as a series. However the good news is that if Agent Carter is picked up for a third run (once again forming the bridge between the two runs of Marvel‘s other show Agents of SHIELD) AND Conviction goes to a full series, then it is understood that ABC will try to work out a schedule that will suit both Agent Carter and Conviction‘s production schedule.
