Why She-Hulk: Attorney At Law Eliminated Many Of Its Courtroom Scenes
Look out, because "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" is about to hit Disney+! Taking slight cues from "Ally McBeal" and "Legally Blonde," the series looks to be Marvel's attempt at a legal dramedy. Starring the amazing Tatiana Maslany as the titular green giant, in this case, Jennifer Walters, "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" will attempt to add yet another layer to the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's a fun gimmick, allowing the series to bring in several notable guest stars, such as Wong (Benedict Wong), Emil Blonsky (Tim Roth), and even the show's most highly anticipated cameo, Daredevil (Charlie Cox)! With Jennifer handling court cases, the possibilities are kind of endless in terms of who could appear, though we know Spider-Man won't be swinging by.
You might think a series called "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" would see Jennifer spending quite a bit of time in court. However, despite its focus on a lawyer, many of the show's courtroom scenes wound up written out of the final product. So, what's the drama behind the lack of legal drama?
Courtroom scenes are tough to write
When speaking to Variety, "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" creator and head writer Jessica Gao discussed her pitch for the show. Interestingly, the first idea she brought to Marvel was a Black Widow movie that prominently featured She-Hulk. Jennifer Walters is Gao's favorite character from the comics, so it all worked out for the best. As for the pitch for this show, she explained:
"My pitch for the show is pretty close to the show that you're watching. All the kind of key foundational elements were there: Emil Blonsky/Abomination was always in the pitch. Bruce was always in the pitch. I didn't know if I could use them. I didn't know what their relationship was to Abomination anymore. But I thought, you know what? This is what I want — so I'll just pitch it. Thankfully, they liked all of it. When I went in, it definitely skewed a lot more heavily towards Blonsky's trial. In my original pitch, it was an actual trial and it spanned multiple episodes. When we got into the writers' room, inevitably things change as you're developing the show and as you start writing. And one thing that we all realized very slowly was none of us are that adept at writing, you know, rousing trial scenes."
It seems like courtroom scenes would be a pretty vital aspect of a legal dramedy, but at least the writers recognize their strengths and weaknesses and have chosen to lean into the former. Only time will tell if "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" will smash expectations, but one thing's for certain: we won't see too much of Jen smashing it in the courtroom.
"She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" is streaming on Disney+ starting August 18, 2022.