Joss Whedon is taking his talents back to the small screen. The “Avengers” director and “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” creator is set to executive produce a half-hour comedy series at Freeform, a spokesperson for the Disney-owned network tells TheWrap.
The project, currently in development, has the working title of “Pippa Smith: Grown-Up Detective” and comes from creators Siobhan Thompson and Rebecca Drysdale. It is a dark comedy that centers around the titular Pippa Smith, a 20-something who played a former kid sleuth on TV, as she deals with relationships, addiction and being too dang old for the detecting game.
In every episode, Pippa solves a new case, while unraveling a larger mystery and attempting to navigate her messy personal life.
Drysdale and Thompson penned the script. Whedon, the”Justice League” reshoot director, and Drysdale will executive produce, with Thompson serving as co-executive producer. Drew Buckley, Jillian Vogel and Sam Reich will also executive produce under Electus’ Big Breakfast banner.
Back in February, Whedon stepped down as the director on Warner Bros. and DC Films’ upcoming “Batgirl,” after realizing he “didn’t have a story” for the flick.
“Batgirl is such an exciting project, and Warners/DC such collaborative and supportive partners, that it took me months to realize I really didn’t have a story,” Whedon told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement. Whedon added, “I’m grateful to Geoff and Toby and everyone who was so welcoming when I arrived, and so understanding when I… uh, is there a sexier word for ‘failed’?”
Whedon has served as a core creative force behind the Marvel Cinematic Universe as director of “The Avengers” and its 2015 sequel, “Age of Ultron.” He also had a hand in Marvel’s expansion to television by co-creating the ABC series “Agents of SHIELD” in 2013.
His other TV credits include “Firefly,” “Angel” and “Dollhouse.”
Variety first reported the news.