Marvel Responds To “Daredevil” Axing
Following yesterday’s sudden cancellation of “Daredevil” after three seasons by Netflix, Marvel Entertainment has responded to the axing of its flagship character.
The Charlie Cox-led series had a bit of resurgence with critics in its third season after stumbling a bit in its second, but in the wake of “Iron Fist” and “Luke Cage” getting the chop, along with the launch of the Disney+ streaming service next year, the inevitable end of the Disney and Netflix’s partnership has now become akin to an acrimonious divorce with the pair trying to cut out all the parts of their lives they shared with each other.
So the writing was on the wall for “Daredevil” and the other two remaining shows “Jessica Jones” and “The Punisher”. Both those shows have new seasons on the way early next year and it’s widely expected that both will announce news of their cancellation shortly after those seasons go to air. The Disney-owned company says in a statement:
“Marvel is extremely grateful to the huge audience that loved Marvel’s ‘Daredevil.’ From the moment of young Matt’s first act of heroism to the birth of Page, Murdock, & Nelson, it has been an unbelievable journey. We are incredibly proud of the amazing showrunners and writers starting with Drew Goddard and Steven DeKnight, Marco Ramirez and Doug Petrie and Erik Oleson, Charlie Cox, Deborah Ann Woll, Elden Henson, Vincent D’Onofrio and our casts who brought our characters to life with such excellence, and every one of the fantastic crews in NYC. We look forward to more adventures with the Man without Fear in the future.”
In addition, co-executive producer Sam Ernst posted on
Twitter today: “Man, so weird to be in the Daredevil writers room today, getting the news that we’re cancelled. On the walls were an entire season 4 laid out – and it was so f——g cool. So many moments we wanted the fans to see… Sigh, this business.”
Many questions have arisen regarding what will happen here, and it’s not as simple as the shows simply starting up again at Disney+ when it launches. As Netflix has previously made quite clear, the existing seasons of the shows will remain on its service for “years to come”.
However, Disney and Marvel own the IP and “Daredevil” remains one of the most valuable properties on the slate. Rebooting the property with a new cast and story for the service would be a fairly simple matter. Reassembling the same cast and continuing those storylines? That seems far more unlikely.
Veteran TV writer Alan Sepinwall
says: “The execs have already said they don’t want these shows on the Disney service. And even if they did, the nature of the contracts would make it virtually impossible. They’re done. And if they did, they’d be starting over from scratch creatively, like Sony ditching the Andrew Garfield movies for Tom Holland as Spider-Man.”
In any case, Marvel Studios is developing a slate of limited series focused on members of the “Avengers” and those are taking priority first. One of those got its title confirmed today – “Vision and the Scarlet Witch”.