It was announced last year that Marvel Television and Hulu were developing a live-action Ghost Rider series, but months later, it was reported that creative differences had led to the project being shelved. The Ghost Rider series would have focused on Robbie Reyes, a man living on the Texas/Mexico border who is consumed by hellfire and supernaturally bound to a demon. When he unleashes the Rider, Robbie brings vengeance for the innocents he encounters, but struggles controlling the power he wields.
Gabriel Luna (TERMINATOR: DARK FATE) played the role of Robbie Reyes during the fourth season of Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and would have reprised the role for the Ghost Rider series, and the actor was recently asked by ComicBookMovie.com how he felt about its abrupt cancellation.
I wish I had more information because I was deep into preparation and I had been preparing myself – my mind, my body – for that part for a few years after I’d done it on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. I had basically entered into a holding contract where I was waiting for us to do the show and then a lot happened that wasn’t in our control unfortunately, namely there was the merging of the television and film divisions over at Marvel. A lot of stuff was happening with that, stuff that I couldn’t control and I think in the restructuring of all of that, something with our production just fell by the wayside.
"But, that’s the business, man," Luna continued. "That’s just the nature of it and I shared that in my response when it first happened, I think on the day that it happened. Even with all the work I put in and we had all put in, it could still go away, the next day’s not guaranteed. You just gotta roll with the punches and be proud of what you made, which I am. I’m very proud of what we did with that character, to introduce a Mexican-American superhero, but not just a superhero, one that was a big icon, a tentpole for Marvel. So, there was a lot that we accomplished." Although the Ghost Rider series may not have worked out, I'm certain that Marvel will revisit the character somewhere down the line.
You can catch Gabriel Luna as Rev-9 in TERMINATOR: DARK FATE, which is now available on Digital/DVD/Blu-ray/4K Ultra HD.