Jessica Gao Talks ‘She-Hulk’ Being More Inspired By ‘Better Call Saul’ Rather Than ‘Ally McBeal’
At first glance, the TV shows She-Hulk: Attorney At Law, Marvel’s newest Disney Plus show, and Ally McBeal, which aired from 1997 to 2002, have a lot in common. After all, both series center on a strong, female lawyer as a lead character.
But that’s really where the similarities end. Showrunner Jessica Gao introduced Jennifer Walters to the MCU in style as Gao kept the character close to her comic-book roots spanning many years. That means a lot of fourth-wall breaking, a first for the MCU that’s more akin to the style of shows like Better Call Saul than Ally McBeal.
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“I would say most of our writers’ room was a little bit on the young side to have really known [Ally McBeal] during its heyday,” she explained in an interview with Variety.
Gao worked with Marvel after pitching ideas that turned She-Hulk into the first bona fide comedy television show for the MCU (WandaVision’s homages and comedic backdrops notwithstanding). Superhero fans already have enjoyed watching comedic, fourth-wall-breaking characters such as Deadpool brought to life on the big screen, but Gao and Marvel worked to balance out that style.
“Oh we discussed it to death, just over and over,” Gao said. “There were two shows that I referenced in my pitch and it was Fleabag and Better Call Saul, hopefully both for obvious reasons. I love fourth-wall breaking, and if I had my druthers, it would just be nonstop — and it really was kind of nonstop in the early phases. It was so much that Marvel was like, ‘OK, calm down, this is too much. She can’t just be talking to the audience the entire time.’”
This isn’t saying that Ally McBeal wasn’t a source of inspiration, according to She-Hulk Director Kat Coiro.
“Ally McBeal was absolutely a reference for this show,” Coiro told Yahoo Entertainment during Comic-Con in July. "And so it was always about finding that balance between making a half-hour comedy, which is a new genre for the MCU, and still feeling like we fit into the universe that has been created.
“‘Marvel's Ally McBeal’ isn't exactly the company line, though,” Coiro added.
Pitching her ideas for bringing She-Hulk to life was not the first time Gao approached Marvel for an MCU project. Gao wanted to create a project that focused on Black Widow. Coincidentally, Marvel felt her version of Black Widow felt too much like She-Hulk; the fortunate happenstance eventually led to She-Hulk, which airs a new episode weekly. The first episode was a solid start that told She-Hulk’s origin story.
Jessica Gao is already known for her work on the animated comedy show Ricky and Morty, for which she won an Emmy as a writer.
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