Development

In April 2016, the series received a straight-to-series order for Freeform from ABC Signature Studios and Marvel Television, with the search for a showrunner underway.^[21] The order consisted of 10 episodes.^[22] By August 2016, Joe Pokaski had signed on to the series as showrunner and executive producer,^[23][24][25] with Jeph Loeb and Jim Chory also serving as executive producers.^[26][25] Alan Fine, Stan Lee, Joe Quesada, and Karim Zreik also serve as executive producers, while Jenny Klein produces the series.^[17] In establishing the "look and feel of the show", Pokaski "wanted something that felt intimate and uncertain", something he hoped the pilot director would convey. Gina Prince-Bythewood was close to the top of Pokaski's list, because he had recently seen Beyond the Lights, which was direct by Prince-Bythwood, and felt it had a similar style that fit his vision for the series. Prince-Bythwood read the script, expecting to hate it, but was surprised by it, feeling it was "a story about two messed-up individuals finding each other." She was hired, and Pokaski credited her for "a lot of our look and feel, a lot of our performances — even just making Aubrey and Olivia comfortable and act in a way that feels real and raw".^[27]

Writing

Writing for Cloak & Dagger began by the end of August 2016,^[23] with Pokaski re-writing his initial script that November.^[24] Olivia Holt felt the season explored "the story of what a white female is going through in 2018 and what a black young male is going through in 2018. We see these characters unfold into themselves in the most complex ways".^[28] Pokaski created an 80-page "bible" for the first season, feeling he followed a good portion of it, while still allowing himself and the writers the ability to deviate from it if better story points arose.^[29] Pokaski was pleased with the diversity of the writers for the season, as they could "represent things that I don't understand". With a majority of black writers, they could "really talk about issues" such as "the story of two young men, driving through New Orleans and talking about their reality and how justice is for other people", while the women writers "really keep [Pokaski] honest as to how to push the envelope and tell the story of a young woman who's a superhero".^[29]

Pokaski spoke about the differences in Cloak and Dagger's origin story from the comics, calling the original stories "fantastic" and progressive "for the time [but] they were a little bit sexist and racist once you got into it, for now. What we tried to do was deconstruct it and make it about Tandy and Tyrone, understand who they were",^[30] to tell "the right story for now". However, Pokaski felt "there is a nobility to the fact that [the original comic writers] wrote [the comics] to show there were homeless children and people doing drugs and things like that. There are some different things that we're trying to shine a light on with our show, but we're in the same spirit hopefully."^[27] He also felt Loeb's idea of having the duo live in New Orleans, opposed to New York City as in the comics, was a "great idea".^[30] To research New Orleans, Pokaski relied on books, consultants, as well as some of the writers in the season. For example, Marcus Guillory "was a fount of information, as to not only the music and the food, but the vodon and the [Mardi Gras] Indians" while Nicole Levy "grew up with a lot of family [in New Orleans] so she had been down there a lot".^[27] The various aspects of vodon inspired the "Divine Pairing" mythology introduced in the season. While researching vodon, which has "religious aspects taken from Africa and the Caribbean to America and hidden under a Christian and Catholic auspice," the writers learned the religion has a duality to it. Pokaski explained, "If you look at some of the Loa in Voodoo, there are some pairings like Baron Samedi is a legend to be married to Maman Brigitte. There are all these pairings you find within. At every point it was fascinating to learn and it seemed like it was destined to become part of the Cloak & Dagger mythology."^[31]

Pokaski did not want to rush the romantic relationship between the duo, insisting that the season is "more about finding your best friend... this show is about 'There's exactly one person who understands me.'"^[32] The season does hint at the pair becoming a romantic couple, with Pokaski and the writers being "excited to tease what will happen in their future".^[33] Structurally for the season, Pokaski felt the first four episodes was the season's first act, where viewers get to understand Tandy and Tyrone individually, the next three "are about them coming together comprehensively, not only as a team, but as best friends", before concluding with the last three episodes.^[29]

The killing of officer Fuchs by having him appear in a refrigerator was meant to "throw [the Women in Refrigerators trope] on its head", according to Pokaski, adding the idea was brought about "so we can at least start a conversation about how we can all be slightly less lazy writers."^[34] "Lotus Eaters", the episode which employs the time loop concept, was conceived as "a special departure" episode, similar to ones that happened on Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Pokaski and Peter Calloway, the episode's writers, "started just riffing on an idea of Groundhog Day meets Deepwater Horizon, and the idea of a man trapped in his own brain." Having Tandy talking to her dad on the phone "allowed her to expose how lonely she was and how much she missed her father", while the episode had Tyrone "embracing her and being positive to her and helping her out of the situation".^[27]

Casting

In January 2017, Olivia Holt and Aubrey Joseph were announced as portraying Tandy Bowen / Dagger and Tyrone Johnson / Cloak, respectively.^[12] Gina Prince-Bythewood, the director of the first episode, called the casting process "really, really tough... it was three days before we were supposed to leave [to begin filming] and we didn't find [actors for the pair]. People started getting willing to settle and the people that were on the table were 27, 28. They felt grown and it didn't feel right for the show. Then Aubrey and Olivia walked in the door, and they had such great chops individually".^[30] Rachel Ryals and Maceo Smedley III portrays a young Tandy and Tyrone, respectively.^[35]

The following month, Andrea Roth was cast as Melissa Bowen, Tandy's mother;^[13] Gloria Reuben and Miles Mussenden were cast as Tyrone's parents, Adina and Otis Johnson;^[13][14] and Carl Lundstedt and J. D. Evermore were cast as Liam Walsh and James Connors, respectively.^[13][15] Emma Lahana and Jaime Zevallos also star as Brigid O'Reilly and Francis Delgado.^[16]

Noëlle Renée Bercy recurs in the season as Evita Fusilier,^[15] along with Wayne Péré as Peter Scarborough, Lane Miller as Fuchs,^[17] Angela Davis as Chantelle,^[18] who Pokaski described as "a modern day incarnation of priestess Marie Laveau",^[31] Ally Maki as Mina Hess,^[19] and Tim Kang as Ivan Hess.^[20] Other guest stars include Marqus Clae as Billy Johnson, Mike Donovan as Rick Cotton,^[36] Dalon J. Holland as Duane Porter,^[17] Andy Dylan as Nathan Bowen,^[37] Gary Weeks as Greg Pressfield,^[38] Dalton E. Gray as Benny,^{[citation needed]} Luray Cooper as Big Chief Roland Duplantier,^{[citation needed]} Gralen Banks as Choo Choo Broussard,^{[citation needed]} and Vanessa Motta as a professional killer.^{[citation needed]} James Saito was also announced to appear in the series as Bernard Sanjo, Tyrone's unusual friend who is an emotional cornerstone in his life^[13] but ultimately did not appear in the series. Stan Lee makes a cameo appearance through an on-set painting.^[32] An alternate cameo considered was having a papier-mâché Mardi Gras head of Lee appear in the final episode during the Mardi Gras warehouse confrontation.^[27]

Filming

Filming for the season had begun by February 8, 2017, in New Orleans,^[39][40] under the working title Shadows.^[41] In December 2016, Disney planned to spend $11.2 million, of a total $42 million budget for the season in Louisiana, over an 86-day filming period.^[40] Filming on the pilot episode wrapped on February 24, 2017.^[42] Photography on the remainder of the season resumed in New Orleans on July 24.^[43] Filming locations included the Le Pavillon Hotel.^[44] The church where Tandy lives was filmed in a real church that was being renovated into a music venue during the pilot. By the time filming resumed for the season, the renovation had progress to where the series could no longer film at the location, so production designer Meghan Rogers rebuilt the set on a soundstage from dimensions and pictures taken from the church.^[27]

Filming officially wrapped on November 2.^[45] Tami Reiker served as cinematographer for the first episode. Because of other commitments, she did not plan to continue with the series, and, along with Prince-Bythewood, recommended Cliff Charles to replace her, who served as cinematographer on the remaining episodes.^[46] The season features many hand-held camera shots that established the "look and feel" of the series, in part because Pokaski "didn't want to wait for a dolly track to be laid".^[29]

Music

Mark Isham composed the music for the season, having previously collaborated with Prince-Bythewood on the films The Secret Life of Bees and Beyond the Lights.^[47] Isham described the series as "extremely character driven" and focused on the difficult childhoods of the title characters, so his score is "dark, but also young enough to keep up with the teenage cast",^[48] with a "jazzy New Orleans flair."^[49] An album featuring Isham's score was released digitally by Marvel Music and Hollywood Records on July 6, 2018:^[50]

Additionally, multiple songs are featured throughout the season.^[51] Some of these were collected and released on a digital soundtrack album on June 8, 2018, again by Marvel Music and Hollywood Records. The release includes series' star Olivia Holt's cover of the song "Come Sail Away".^[52][53]

Marvel Cinematic Universe tie-ins

Roxxon Gulf, a division of the Roxxon Corporation company that has been featured throughout the MCU, is seen in the season.^[54][32] The Darkforce dimension which fuels Cloak's powers was previously established in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and Agent Carter.^[55] Pokaski stated that "There are at least a dozen Easter eggs in the first season that Marvel approved, and a few more that I snuck in there."^[32] O'Reilly discusses formerly working in Harlem and her friend Misty Knight in the series,^[56][57] while her move to New Orleans is mentioned by her former New York colleagues in the second season of Luke Cage.^[58] Loeb noted the Luke Cage references were "not by mistake", with the potential for them to become something more, such as having Simone Missick, who portrays Misty Knight, appearing in the series.^[59] Tony Stark and Danny Rand are also mentioned in the series.^[60]

Ratings

After three days, "First Light" had 1.64 million total viewers, which was a 78% increase from its initial viewers, the largest three-day lift for any Freeform debut. It was also the best series launch on Freeform in two years and Freeform's most-watched drama since "Till Death Do Us Part", the series finale of Pretty Little Liars in June 2017. "First Light" also had the biggest digital debut ever for the network, with 716,000 starts. The premiere drew 7.3 million views across linear and digital platforms and was Thursday's most-social scripted series with 112,000 engagements across Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tumblr.^[80]

Critical response

The review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 89% approval rating with an average rating of 7.50/10 based on 54 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "Cloak & Dagger blends soapy drama with superhero grit to create an exciting, surprisingly thoughtful addition to the genre — even if it falls prey to a certain amount of narrative bloat."^[81] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 68 out of 100 based on reviews from 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".^[82]

Early reactions to the first episode from its screening at South by Southwest 2018 were largely positive, with praise going to Joseph and Holt's performances.^[55] Alex McLevy of The A.V. Club noted the screening debuted "to raucous applause", and felt "The show definitely looks good. It has some real issues in other areas, but the charismatic leads are the true find, and if the show succeeds, it will largely be on the back of the work they do." He added that there were major changes from the comics, including the relocation of the character from New York to New Orleans and the addition of "parents, home lives, and all manner of other backstories rejiggered to serve the long-form TV storytelling framework."^[83] Meredith Borders of /Film gave the first episode a 9 out of 10, calling it "among the upper echelon of Marvel television.... [doing] so with style and powerful storytelling" and felt it was "new in every particular way". Borders felt the leads "have tremendous chemistry onscreen" that she became "deeply invested" in. She also called the look of the season "much richer and more textured" than many other superhero and Freeform series, felt the protagonists' powers were shown "in a really visually organic way", and praised Isham's music. Borders also noted the strong divergence from the comics source material, but felt "the spirit of the characters absolutely remains the same."^[84]

In his review of the first four episodes, Daniel Fienberg of The Hollywood Reporter felt while there were "no superheroes, no mission and no clear bad guy" in these early episodes, he "found [him]self enjoying quite a bit thanks to the solid introductions to the human side of its characters, an often innovative structure, fine use of its New Orleans backdrop and a few moments of real cleverness. If, on some levels, Cloak & Dagger is oddly sluggish, there's a lot happening in these early episodes, some of it fun."^[35] Reviewing the first two episodes, IGN's Joi Childs awarded the episodes an 8.5 out of 10, noting, "Tackling a variety of relatable subjects while embracing the thrill of discovering new powers, Cloak & Dagger delivers an emotionally honest and surprisingly resonant premiere. The pacing can feel a bit slower than one might expect or want from a superhero TV show, but thanks to the drama, effects, mystery and chemistry between the main protagonists, the premiere builds a solid foundation for Marvel's newest series."^[85] Merrill Barr at Forbes wrote, "Without question, it can be said Cloak & Dagger plays right into the hand of the audience it's gaming for. This is one of the darkest and moodiest YA series to ever YA... Unfortunately, the series suffers from the problem many shows of its type do: it takes far longer than it should to dive deep into the meat of its story." In comparison to the other Marvel Television series, Barr felt Cloak & Dagger "exists somewhere between the light-hearted, broad stroke nature of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and very mature dramatic overtones of any of the Netflix series".^[86] Abraham Riesman of Vulture felt "there's a lot going on in Cloak & Dagger, and if it can keep up its pace of invention and revelation, it promises to be your essential superhero watch of the summer." He also praised "Marvel Television's willingness to boil a superhero concept down to the elements that work best and, beyond that, be purely inventive," enjoying the change of location to New Orleans over the New York setting from the comics.^[87]

For io9, Charles Pulliam-Moore said, "Cloak & Dagger isn't exactly a show for die-hard comic book purists looking for a live-action translation of the superheroes they love, but that ultimately works out in its favor because that's not what it's trying to be. Cloak & Dagger wants you to see the power in and importance of being able to see across differences—a bit of a cheesy message, perhaps, but one that we could all stand to remind ourselves of more often." He was critical of the pacing, a common issue across many of the Marvel Television series, but conceded, while the "forward momentum from scene to scene is lacking... all of the performances are stellar."^[88] Giving the season a "B", Entertainment Weekly's Darren Franich was "pessimistic and optimistic about Cloak & Dagger, and hope the show's openhearted thoughtfulness can energize its rather bargain-bin super-mythology." He felt the season took the "rough outline" of the comics "and cleverly modernizes it in unexpected directions" and throughout the early episodes the New Orleans location "finds unexpected ways to root Tyrone and Tandy in the local culture." Franich was also critical of the pacing.^[89] Giving the first four episodes 2 out of 4 stars, Allison Keene of Collider was more critical of the season. She was also critical of the pacing, called the writing "shaky", wished more was done with the New Orleans setting, and felt that attempting to split the early episodes between both Johnson and Bowen, resulted in "jarring edits, half-baked plots, and quickly-forgotten side characters."^[90]

Accolades

Deadline Hollywood felt the season was one of the best to air in summer 2018.^[91]