Olivia Holt & Aubrey Joseph Talk Timeliness of 'Marvel's Cloak & Dagger'

Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger is more than just a superhero show — sure, it centers on two teens with gifted with extraordinary powers, but it’s still more than just that.

Stars Olivia Holt and Aubrey Joseph opened up during a panel during the recent Freeform Summit about the show and the importance and timeliness of it as well.

“The most important thing was to tell a story of a young woman who gets these powers, who does the wrong thing sometimes and slowly finds herself a hero,” showrunner Joe Pokaski shared. “And the story of a young black man who has a harder climb than Peter Parker, that has a harder climb than Tony Stark, and yet has to overcome and protect everybody else.”

Aubrey, who will play Tyrone Johnson (aka Cloak) adds that this role was unlike any other for him.

“It was one of the first roles that, to me, fully showcased what it is to be a young black male in America right now,” he said. “And I feel like there’s no – we’re getting better, obviously, Atlanta being a show and things like that.”

He adds, “Before this, most of the roles that I was going in for is, like, ‘young black kid’ on Law & Order getting shot. We finally got a chance to tell the story that a young black male goes through the same things that anyone else has, and has the same hopes and dreams.”

Olivia, who plays Tandy (aka Dagger), echoes his stance: “I feel like this is such a right time to have a show like this. Just in our generation and in this day and age and focusing on current subjects and hard topics to actually talk about.”

Marvel’s Cloak & Dagger premieres on Freeform on June 7th.