Netflix cancels Luke Cage
Luke Cage's cancellation comes just a week or so after Netflix announced it was axing Iron Fist.
Luke Cage joins Iron Fist on Netflix’s cancellation scrapheap.
In news that will likely have comic book fans wailing and gnashing their teeth, Netflix has announced that Luke Cage will not be renewed for a third season.
The news comes just a couple of of months after the show’s second season aired on Netflix to some rather positive reviews. Luke Cage now joins Iron Fist on the streaming service’s scrapheap; Netflix announced that the show centred on the exploits of one Danny Rand was axed about a week or so ago.
“Unfortunately, Marvel’s Luke Cage will not return for a third season,” Marvel and Neflix announced.
“Everyone at Marvel Television and Netflix is grateful to the dedicated showrunner, writers, cast and crew who brought Harlem’s Hero to life for the past two seasons, and to all the fans who have supported the series.”
While Iron Fist’s cancellation didn’t really surprise anyone – the first season was almost universally panned and the second season didn’t exactly set the world on fire – Luke Cage’s axing comes as a shock. After all, showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker had been working on scripts for a third season of the show according to a report on Deadline. Not only that, the show’s main cast members – including its star, Michael Colter – were all still under contract.
The report states that Luke Cage’s cancellation may have been due to creative differences with both Marvel and Netflix top brass struggling for control over the direction for the series. However, as some pundits have pointed out, Disney has announced it’ll be launching its own streaming service in the future and it could be that Netflix has decided to cut ties with properties that it will neither own nor be able to stream going forward. The Netflix/Marvel shows are also very costly to make.
At the time of writing Netflix has renewed The Punisher for a second season and Jessica Jones for a third. However, there’s no word on a fourth season of Daredevil and it sounds as though The Defenders won’t be getting a second season.
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