We had the opportunity to talk with the minds behind Ironheart‘s writing and production, Executive Producers Ryan Coogler, Zoie Nagelhout, Sev Ohanian, and showrunner Chinaka Hodge, to discuss the cultural relevance of Riri Williams’ connection to the STEM fields, how fleshing out the characters was an act of self development and what viewers can expect in the way of handling Tony Stark’s legacy in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

“The show, for me, was always gonna be about fleshing out her world,” Executive Producer Ryan Coogler explained with a level of thoughtful consideration that is uniquely his own, “so the thing I was most interested in was the relationships — I knew the science was gonna take care of itself.”

It’s been three years since Riri Williams’s debut in the record-breaking blockbuster feature film Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and while Disney+’s Ironheart show will pick up on where we left the titular character after her return from Wakanda, the film’s writer and director Ryan Coogler will only be serving as Executive Producer this time around, leaving the writing in the hands of writer/poet Chinaka Hodge.

“I would say finding the similarities between me and Riri was ‘easy as pie,'” Hodge said with a chuckle, “I would say navigating those similarities was harder!” Feeling both a sense of pressure and promise as the head writer of the series, Chinaka Hodge expressed satisfaction at the self-realization she and Ironheart were able to achieve as the series developed.

Executive Producer Sev Ohanian — a self proclaimed Marvel fan — talked about the process of making Ironheart her own hero in the vein of Iron Man, but still unique to herself. “We wanted to be different from Tony’s later suits, when he gets into the nanotech world, and it was really important to me to bring back the ‘clunk’ of her helmet coming down, that’s so satisfying,” he reminisced. The practical design team assisted the graphics unit by providing life-size productions of the suits in question to be recreated in CGI, paying close attention to the everything from the shapes down to the reflections to give a more visually arresting look.

Leaning into the aesthetic and reality of the growing numbers of women STEM fields, Ironheart places a unique spotlight on this emerging demographic of women and puts a sci-fi spin on it. Executive Producer Zoie Nagelhout posited: “The challenge every time we tell a new story in the Marvel tapestry is how do we meet the bar of storytelling that has come before… but at the same time how do you tell a story that can only be told by these characters? What does Riri have to offer that no other character can offer?”

Catch our conversation with Ryan Coogler, series writer Chinaka Hodge, and EPs Zoie Nagelhout and Sev Ohanian in its entirety here:

Make sure to check out Marvel’s Ironheart now streaming on Disney+!