John Ridley Says His Version of Marvel’s ‘Eternals’ “Was the Good Version”
Long before Chloe Zhao brought the Eternals into the MCU for their 2021 feature film, Oscar-winning screenwriter John Ridley was hard at work on a television based on the celestial beings.
During an appearance on the Comic Book Club Podcast, Ridley revealed that back in 2015, he was working on his own adaptations of the Eternals for ABC.
Photo: Variety
“My version was the good version. It was so [freaking] weird,” he explained.
While Ridley’s version of the Eternals never made it to the small screen, the screenwriter believes his version would have been better than the eventual MCU adaptation.
“There was my version, a good version, which is good to me. Which. that doesn’t mean anything. There was the version that [Marvel] ended up doing, which I don’t think … that version was particularly good. I’ll be honest.”
Why Was Ridley’s Version Shelved
Ridley’s Eternals series was permanently canceled when Marvel Television ceased to exist in 2019. At that time, Marvel Studios began to produce its own streaming series for Disney+.
Source: Marvel Studios’ ETERNALS. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.
Had Ridley’s version of the Eternals made it to ABC, it likely would have been set in the same universe as Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Agent Carter, and Inhumans.
The Eternals did eventually come to fruition in the form of Chloe Zhao’s feature film. The film opened to mixed reviews from critics and a poor reception from Marvel fans. During the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the film managed to gross $402.1 million against a budget of $236.2 million.
What Would the Television Series Have Been Like?
During the Comic Book Club interview, Ridley gave fans an idea of what his show would have entailed.
(L-R): Ikaris (Richard Madden) and Sersi (Gemma Chan) in Marvel Studios’ ETERNALS. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.
“My version started with, the first thing you see is a young man, probably about 18 years old,” he said “And he’s sitting there. He’s sitting there for a moment. And then he lifts his hands. He has a drill in it. And he turns the drill on. And he puts the drill to his ear. And he starts pushing it in. And then it goes from there. That’s the start, right? That’s how it starts. And then I think you see … another kid … He sleeps in the bathtub, covers himself with foil. It’s just a really weird story about these people who are, I mean, it’s just weird.”
Ridley admitted that his adaptation did not win over everyone at Marvel. The Eternals, he says, is a “really hard property to develop.”
Source: Marvel Studios’ ETERNALS. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.
In the end, the screenwriter believes “the best thing to happen for everybody was that it didn’t happen with me because I don’t know that it would have been entertaining.”
“And I do mean what’s entertaining to me is often not entertaining. Populist, which is great for a lot of the work I do, but this needed to be a little bit more popular.”
Source: Marvel Studios’ ETERNALS. Photo courtesy of Marvel Studios. ©Marvel Studios 2021. All Rights Reserved.
While we eventually got to see the Eternals in the MCU, Ridley’s adaptation remains one of the great “what ifs?” in Marvel history.
