The series stars Olivia Holt and Aubrey Joseph as Tandy Bowen / Dagger and Tyrone Johnson / Cloak, two teenagers with superpowers who form a partnership.

Holt and Joseph were cast in January 2017, with Gloria Reuben, Andrea Roth, J. D. Evermore, Miles Mussenden, Carl Lundstedt, Emma Lahana, and Jaime Zevallos also starring in the series.

In New Orleans, Louisiana, teenagers Tandy Bowen and Tyrone Johnson come from different backgrounds and have acquired superpowers after a life-changing event that revolved around the collapse of the Roxxon Gulf Platform.

In the second season, Tandy and Tyrone work to solve the abductions of women run by Andre Deschaine while dealing with Brigid O'Reilly's vigilante half Mayhem.

At San Diego Comic-Con in 2011, head of Marvel Television Jeph Loeb announced the series Cloak & Dagger was in development at ABC Family.

The series, which would be set in post-Hurricane Katrina New Orleans, would follow Cloak and Dagger as the two "find each other and realize that their powers both complement and complicate their lives.

Loeb reached out to Pokaski about working with Marvel, who was interested in writing Cloak and Dagger since "there's something that felt so right about them for the television format", and wrote the script.

The second season would explore the themes of women's rights and issues through Mina Hess, while "continuing to drive the conversation forward about race in America".

[2] Gina Prince-Bythewood, the director of the first episode, called the casting process "really, really tough ... it was three days before we were supposed to leave [to begin filming] and we didn't find [actors for Tandy and Tyrone].

Because of other commitments, she did not plan to continue with the series, and, along with Prince-Bythewood, recommended Cliff Charles to replace her, who served as cinematographer on the remaining episodes of season one.

[60] The first season features many hand-held camera shots that established the "look and feel" of the series, in part because Pokaski "didn't want to wait for a dolly track to be laid".

[61] Multiple songs are featured throughout the first season,[62] some of which were collected and released on a digital soundtrack album on June 8, 2018, by Marvel Music and Hollywood Records.

"[3] After the first-season finale, Pokaski expanded, saying he would "love" to have Tandy and Tyrone appear in the MCU films "as utility players the way they are in comics", but conceded "there are a lot of legal hurdles and corporate barriers to doing that".

"[3] O'Reilly discusses formerly working in Harlem and her friend Misty Knight in the series,[70][71] while her move to New Orleans is mentioned by her former New York colleagues in the second season of Luke Cage.

[72] Loeb noted the Luke Cage references were "not by mistake", with the potential for them to have become something more, such as having Simone Missick, who portrays Misty Knight, appearing in the series.

[74] A newspaper article about Luke Cage, written by Karen Page, including a picture of the titular character portrayed by Mike Colter, is prominently featured in the second season.

The premiere drew 7.3 million views across linear and digital platforms and was Thursday's most-social scripted series with 112,000 engagements across Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Tumblr.

The website's critical consensus reads, "Cloak & Dagger blends soapy drama with superhero grit to create an exciting, surprisingly thoughtful addition to the genre — even if it falls prey to a certain amount of narrative bloat.

It deals metaphorically with the burdens, risks, and liberations of power—and it has the storytelling freedoms offered by high-concept science fiction, fantasy, and magical realism.