Thanos’s snap, and Disney’s own streaming service, have upset the balance of the universe. All the Netflix Marvel shows are now canceled with today’s announcement that Jessica Jones, the third season of which will air later this year on the streaming service, and The Punisher have been cancelled. This means that the Marvel Netflix Universe, with five series and a Defenders team-up, are now over.
Marvel TV issued a statement to Deadline following the cancellation. “On behalf of everyone at Marvel Television, we couldn’t be more proud or more grateful to our audience. Our network partner may have decided they no longer want to continue telling the tales of these great characters… but you know Marvel better than that. As Matthew Murdock’s dad once said, ‘The measure of a man is not how he gets knocked to the mat, it’s how he gets back up.'”
The Punisher just wrapped season two on the streaming service, but star Jon Bernthal had already jumped ship to a new project with the Sopranos prequel The Many Saints of Newark. Announcing Jessica Jones’s cancellation before the show’s final season even airs could either get people talking and eager to watch how the story concludes or could just leave fans cold and not interested in tuning in.
It’s unlikely that the shows will all make an immediate jump to Disney+, but hopefully we’ll see a return of some of these characters some day. This also now gives them room to appear in the cinematic universe, as they aren’t beholden to the Netflix canon (even though those technically took place in the same universe).
Personally, I mourn the loss of excellent casting like Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock and Bernthal’s Frank Castle, who were two of the best leading turns in superhero TV. Only time will tell how we’ll see these characters again.
For now, here’s Bernthal’s farewell Instagram post.
(via Deadline, image: Marvel/Netflix)
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