Gabriel Luna will indeed star in Hulu's new Ghost Rider live-action TV show, in what is said to be a new iteration of Robbie Reyes that isn't connected to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - where Luna originally debuted as the fiery hero. Over the course of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s five season run (with two more seasons on the way), the show has introduced plenty of Marvel characters on the small screen who were not part of the greater plans at Marvel Studios. One of the biggest came during season 4 when it was revealed that the Robbie Reyes version of Ghost Rider was coming to the series.
Ghost Rider was the centerpiece of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s story for the first part of the fourth season, and it didn't take long for viewers to latch on to Luna's portrayal. His backstory, home life, and powers were completely fleshed out, and, at the time, it looked as though he could get a solo spinoff series due to the popularity. That didn't happen on ABC, but Marvel recently announced that a Ghost Rider TV show is coming to Hulu in 2020. One question that many had was whether or not Luna would return.
According to a report from Variety, Luna is set to star in Ghost Rider. Their report initially caused confusion after saying this would be "a completely new iteration in no way connected to the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. storyline," but that does not appear to actually be the case. Hulu said in a statement to EW that the series will focus on the “same character with [a] new story that lives unto its own.” Luna teased such a return on Twitter hours before the announcement was made.
The intensity that Luna brought to Ghost Rider is one of the many reasons fans of his portrayal immediately wondered whether or not he would crossover to Hulu, so this is great news on that front. Even though this new series may not be the direct spinoff to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. that many were interested in, at least we know Marvel TV isn't going to completely ignore the events of Luna's previous time as the character.
The strong distancing between Ghost Rider and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. makes sense though. This new series will be able to work all by itself as a standalone story, while smaller details may be used to hint at what happened to him on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Marvel TV's motto is "It's All Connected" after all, so it would've been incredibly surprising if they began ignoring or retconning their own small screen canon. Now that we know for sure that Luna is going to star, this could open up the door for Lorenzo James Henrie to reprise his role as Robbie Reyes' brother, or even a more far-fetched return with an Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. cast member appearing. In the meantime, we'll just have to wait for more Ghost Rider details to learn what this new storyline is going to be.