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Marvel Studios is accelerating plans for its long-gestating Nova project. As reported by Jeff Sneider and later Deadline's Nellie Andreeva, Marvel Studios has made three big choices about the project which has been in discussions for over a decade.

First, Nova will now be a live-action TV series. In the early days of the MCU, it was reported a Nova movie was in development, but in recent years it had been said to be a TV movie akin to 2022's Werewolf by Night. Now, however, Nova is being formatted as a TV series.

Second, Marvel Studios has hired veteran TV crime writer Ed Bernero as showrunner of the Nova series. He replaces Sabir Pirzada, who was hired in 2022 after his work on Moon Knight to develop the project. Bernero comes to Nova with series TV credits as the showrunner on Criminal Minds and was co-creator/executive producer on Third Watch and the Criminal Minds spinoff Suspect Behavior. 

Third, Marvel Studios has decided that the Nova TV series will center on a new Nova Corps member not seen in the MCU before - Richard Rider. In comics, Rider is a human who falls in with the Nova Corps but isn't from Nova Prime - the primary base of the Nova Corps as seen in the MCU's Guardians of the Galaxy movies, directed and co-written by James Gunn.

Nova was originally created in 1966 by Marv Wolfman as a creator-owned hero named Star for his fanzine Super Adventures. Shortly thereafter, Wolfman and Len Wein revamped the character as Black Nova. A decade later, Wolfman brought the idea to Marvel Comics for another dramatic revamp - this time with John Romita Sr. - to simply be named Nova.

Marvel Studios' Nova project comes as another live-action superhero series about individuals in an intergalactic police force is in development at DC. Like Nova, the Green Lanterns live-action TV series has been in development for years. The current version, Lanterns, has hired Kyle Chandler and Aaron Pierre as Hal Jordan and John Stewart, respectively, with a rough 2026 release date projected.

Marvel Studios has not outlined a release date for Nova, however, recently Disney boss Bob Iger has stated a plan to limit Marvel to two live-action series per year.

Keep up to date on Popverse's Marvel coverage, with these highlights:

• How Disney+'s What If...? is the moonshot for the next 50 years of Marvel Studios & the MCU
• Marvel Studios has accidentally created a new Phase that predates Phases 1 - 6: the MCU Phase Zero
• Overgrown children of the atom: Marvel's X-Men can't evolve past their '90s commercial peak
• The biggest outstanding questions of the Marvel Studios' movies & TV shows
• Donald Trump is the landlord for Marvel's House of Ideas
• Marvel Studios swapping out Doctor Doom for Kang offers the chance to jettison the Multiverse Saga
• What Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige is saying (and not saying) about the MCU X-Men franchise says a lot about the future of the Mutant Saga
• If Marvel is going to bring Loki back for Secret Wars, it's time to give him an upgrade
• With Daredevil, and spinoffs from Black Panther, What If, and more, Marvel Studios' 2025 Disney+ slate is bigger than ever, and that might be a big deal for the future
• If Kraven the Hunter flops, Sony's Spider-Man Universe could look for a Marvel-assisted reboot
• In 2021, Sony's boss said people won't miss Spider-Man in its Spider-adjacent movie. Turns out, they do.