The ABC comic book series Marvel’s Inhumans explores the Royal Family of the Inhumans, led by enigmatic king Black Bolt (Anson Mount) and his wife Medusa (Serinda Swan), who have to escape to Hawaii after a military coup in their home of Attilan. Once they are in the world surrounded by humanity, they must find a way to reunite with each other and return to their home before their way of life is destroyed forever.

During this 1-on-1 interview with Collider, showrunner Scott Buck (Marvel’s Iron Fist) talked about what made him want to sign on for Inhumans, ultimately having to depart Iron Fist, as a result, appealing to fans of the comic as well as those who have never read it, telling the story of two brothers, the challenges of having a character at the center of your story that doesn’t speak, Medusa’s hair, bringing Lockjaw to life, the experience of working in Hawaii, and how far ahead he has a plan for the series.

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Image via ABC

Collider: When the idea of doing Inhumans was brought to you, did you have to think about how you could work that out with Iron Fist?

SCOTT BUCK: I had just finished Iron Fist, and I was exhausted and looking for some time off when Jeph Loeb called and pitched this idea, and it was so good that I couldn’t say no to it. At that time, we did not know if Iron Fist would continue. We didn’t know if we’d get picked up for another season, so I wasn’t really thinking that there was going to be a conflict with that. I was just excited about the next project.

Would you have wanted to do both, if the timing had worked out?

BUCK: I think so, yes, but I’m so happy to do this one. Iron Fist is in great hands. I’m confident that the new showrunner is gonna do a great job.

What was it about Inhumans that appealed to you?

BUCK: I think the idea that rather than just one superhero, it’s an entire race of superheroes and, in particular, we’re following one family. We find them in a moment of great crisis, despite the fact that they all have these unique superpowers. Those superpowers don’t really do anything to help them solve this crisis, any more than any other human would be able to. It’s a crisis of two brothers who are butting heads, and who have completely different views of the world around them and how they should be living in that world. Because of that, it’s all so relatable to me.

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Image via ABC

What are the challenges of telling the story of two brothers, where one has very scary powers and the other one has none?

BUCK: That’s the fun of it. Despite the fact that Black Bolt has the most tremendous power of anyone in Atalan, it’s also, in so many ways, a curse. It’s rendered him unable to speak. Maximus had the worst Terrigenesis. As a human being, it’s a little unsettling to realize that the worst possible Terrigenesis is to end up exactly like us. For him, everyone in Atalan looks down on him because they pity him, and he’s had to live his whole life, carrying that burden. These two characters, in their own ways, have been dealt, very unfairly, through their Terrigenesis. It’s interesting to see how they mesh and come together, in their own way.

Why does Maximus (Iwan Rheon) think he’d be a better leader than Black Bolt?

BUCK: Teregensis doesn’t happen until you’re 15 years old, so he grew up as a very intelligent young boy, believing that he’d be the best person to someday run Atalan. It was a horrible blow to him to realize that he would not. He’s always believed that. He’s a very self-confident person. He’s sure of his abilities. And the truth is that a lot of his ideas might be better than Black Bolt’s ideas. It’s not that he would be the worst person in the world to run Atalan.

Would Maximus have handled things differently, if he’d felt like he was heard?

BUCK: Oh, absolutely! I think it’s a big part of his character that he has been dealt this horrible blow. It’s affected him in a tremendous way.

When you do something like this, there are the fans of the comics and there’s the audience who knows nothing about the comics. How do you balance the two?

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Image via ABC

BUCK: I think you have to respect the comic and look at the comic to see what it is that people love about it. Those are the same things that I love about it. You have to honor that and make that part of the show, but you also have to appeal to an audience that has never seen this before. They don’t have the background and they don’t know who these people are, so you have to reintroduce them, in a way, to an audience that is not going to be familiar with the Inhumans. 

What should audiences who don’t know anything about the comics know about this show, going in?

BUCK: They absolutely do not have to know anything. All of the writers read as much of the comics as they possibly could, and some of them were already very familiar with them, but I was not particularly familiar with the Inhumans when I started, so I had to do a crash course. It’s a fun, exciting Marvel show, but it’s also a show about compelling characters that will draw people in. Hopefully, you’ll care about these people and want to watch to see what will happen with them. It’s a whole new world, but it’s fairly easy to leap right in and join in on the fun.

How soon will we get to see some of the interaction between the Royal Family of the Inhumans and the people that they’re going to have to deal with?

BUCK: I don’t want to give too much away, but very early on. Much of our show takes place in Hawaii, and we shoot Hawaii for Hawaii. We’re not trying to pretend it’s someplace else. Our characters will inhabit that world, fairly early on.

What has the experience of working in Hawaii been like?

BUCK: That was part of the appeal. It’s one of the most beautiful places in the world, and it’s about as opposite from the moon as you could possibly imagine. It’s the opportunity to place our characters in a very strange world.

Inhumans was originally talked about as a feature film for Marvel. Did you ever have any conversations with them about things that you couldn’t do or would have to avoid, in case that film ever did happen?

BUCK: No, I think we had complete freedom to approach this show in the way that we wanted to do it. Jeph already had a good grasp on exactly what this show should be, and we had a great deal of time talking about it, so that I could learn exactly what his vision was and follow through on that.

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Image via ABC

Why do Black Bolt and Medusa think they’re the best ones to be in charge of this society?

BUCK: They know things that Maximus doesn’t know. They’re the hands-on people who are running this world and they know how difficult it is to have power. They know how precious this small city on the moon is. Maximus has the freedom to simply think big without ever actually having to do anything and without having to run this small country. For them, they’re not just trying to do what’s best for one person. They’re trying to think of what’s best for the survival of their entire race.

What are the challenges of having a character at the center of your show that doesn’t speak?

BUCK: It’s a huge challenge to write a character when he’s your lead character, and every scene he’s in, he needs to be the center of that scene and driving things. But we’re fortunate with Anson [Mount], in that he’s able to say a lot without saying a word. He’s translated by Medusa, but so much is read on his face. He’s also a character that’s very purposefully enigmatic. He doesn’t want people to know what he’s thinking or feeling. That’s very much inherent in the character and I think that comes through, as well.

How difficult is it to have so many characters with different powers?

BUCK: It’s a bit of a challenge, but it’s also part of the fun and the appeal of the show. Some of those powers are very visible, and others are not quite so visible. Crystal has the ability to control the elements, but when she’s not controlling the elements, there’s no special effects going on. With someone like Gorgon, who has the legs and hooves of a big, powerful beast, that is always there, at all times. Each one of our actors had their own challenges that they had to deal with and overcome.

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Image via ABC

Was there anything that you were most concerned about pulling off?

BUCK: Any of the big special effects. Medusa’s hair is extremely difficult, expensive and time-consuming to do. Lockjaw is a tremendous special effect. We have the best people in the business, all over the world, working on the show, and it’s a work in progress.

Does it make you nervous when you have to work on special effects, right until the very last minute?

BUCK: It does. There’s a lot of pressure to get things done in time. We have the best people in the business working on this, so we’re confident that everything will be done in time.

Are you surprised that so much has been made of Medusa’s hair, or did you expect that?

BUCK: It’s always a little surprising when something like that happens. That is one of the most complicated effects of this show. It’s just inherent in any Marvel show that people are going to start judging, from the very beginning.

Lockjaw could easily take over the show. How do you balance making sure that doesn’t happen?

BUCK: That won’t happen. He’s a dog. Despite the fact that he weighs 2,000 pounds and can teleport, he’s still just a dog, so his storyline is always fairly simple. We don’t try to pretend that he’s anything other than that.

What was it like to put this cast together?

BUCK: They’re great. When you’re writing a character, I very much have in mind exactly who I want the person to be and how I want them portrayed, and we just got lucky with our cast. We were able to find the exact right person for every role, who did not just bring what I wanted them to bring to it, but expands upon that and brings so much more to the role. When you watch Anson playing Black Bolt, it’s exciting and it’s a relief because there’s so much on his face. As a write it, I don’t necessarily know that that’s going to be there, but it makes the character that much more compelling and that much more dynamic.

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Image via ABC

Will there be a feeling of closure to the story you’re telling, over this first season, or will a bunch of new questions or story ideas arise?

BUCK: I think things will continue to expand. The big major story that we’ll tell, over the course of the season, will be complete by the end of the season, but also open us up to a whole other potential storyline. New things blossom, in a big way, by the end of the season.

Do you have a goo d idea of what Season 2 would look like, or have you thought about even further down the road than that?

BUCK: We have ideas. We know our starting point for Season 2, but we don’t know if there will be a Season 2. Hopefully, there will be a Season 2. If so, we know where we’re gonna start, and we’ll very gratefully gear up and get to work.

How big of an overall plan do you have for this show?

BUCK: We generally know where the first three seasons could go. What’s fun about the show is that it will basically always be a show about family, so there’s always going to be places to take these characters.

Marvel’s Inhumans airs on Friday nights on ABC.

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Image via ABC