She-Hulk: Attorney at Law EPs Reveal How Her Fourth-Wall Breaking Evolved

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is finally about to arrive, and its set to bring a specific new flavor into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The series' titular protagonist, Jennifer Walters / She-Hulk (Tatiana Maslany) has had a unique and self-aware tenure in the MCU, with her being one of the first comic characters to break the fourth wall and talk directly to the audience. ComicBook.com recently got to attend the virtual press conference for She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, where head writer Jessica Gao and director and executive producer Kat Coiro revealed how her fourth-wall-breaking in the series evolved over time, with the show briefly considering including text boxes of "editor's notes" onscreen, that Jen could interact with like she does in the comics.

"For me, foundationally, I felt like first and foremost the fourth-wall breaking and the kind of meta-humor and the self-awareness [was the most important element to retain]," the writer and executive producer said during a recent press conference. "Because it was the John Byrne run that made me fall in love with this character, you know? It was just so lighthearted and fun and refreshing. So that was always kind of a foundational element."

"It went through a lot of evolutionary steps," Gao said. "How much should she talk to camera? Is she talking directly to the audience? Is there another meta element? Is she talking to somebody else that's more behind the scenes? At one point there was an iteration in the scripts where instead of talking directly to camera, there were text boxes that were editor's notes—like the comic books, how there were editor's notes in comics—and she was actually interacting with the editor's notes that would be on screen. I mean, we did eventually scrap that idea, but we went through a lot of different versions of how she would do it."

"Ultimately it was about finding the balance," she said. "Breaking the fourth wall does connect to the audience and draws us in, but not so much so that we're not connecting to her story in the world that we've built."

She-Hulk: Attorney at Law follows Jennifer Walters as she navigates the complicated life of a single, 30-something attorney who also happens to be a green 6-foot-7-inch superpowered hulk. The nine-episode series welcomes a host of MCU vets, including Mark Ruffalo as Hulk, Tim Roth as Abomination, Charlie Cox as Daredevil, and Benedict Wong as Wong. The cast also includes Ginger Gonzaga, Josh Segarra, Jon Bass and Renée Elise Goldsberry. Executive producers are Kevin Feige, Louis D'Esposito, Victoria Alonso, Brad Winderbaum, Kat Coiro and Jessica Gao. Co-executive producers are Wendy Jacobson and Jennifer Booth.

Are you excited for the upcoming She-Hulk series? What do you think of the show's original plans to break the fourth wall? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!

She-Hulk is expected to debut on Disney+ on Thursday, August 18th. If you haven't checked out Disney+ yet and you want to give it a go, you can do that here.

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