"Our goal is to make TV shows that have an annual cadence, that feel like longer-form character studies, like truly great television shows," Brad Winderbaum, the head of Marvel Television, told me on the eve of Daredevil: Born Again season 2's release. I thought he was referring to The Man Without Fear's show – the third season was filming at the time – but I was very, very wrong.
At Marvel's New York Comic Con panel, Daredevil himself, Charlie Cox, backed by Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones) and a returning Finn Jones (Iron Fist), confirmed that the next season will be the show's last. The audience was not happy. Asked what we can expect from the final episodes, Cox emphatically said: "All I can say is, the #SaveDaredevil campaign will be gearing up for Round Two." A round of cheers followed, but probably too little, too late.
Cox later told GamesRadar+ that the cancellation was not a huge surprise and the cast had a "good sense" the news was coming. However, reports previously revealed that showrunner Dario Scardapane exited the series during post-production, and internet rumours have also claimed the series' ending has been reshot to be more definitive. Surely, the show was meant to go on? I mean, why reintroduce all The Defenders not to use them?
VisionQuest also made up a significant part of the NYCC panel, with the cast stressing that this is the final part of the WandaVision trilogy. Yet, rather than just being a closing chapter to one of Marvel's most successful small-screen ventures, VisionQuest feels like the end of an entire era. Marvel has spent five years pumping out live-action limited series that tied into the big-screen productions, and now, there are no more coming. Marvel's Disney Plus experiment, it seems, has run its course.
"With the Captain America series, with Hawkeye, it really felt like the movies were in your home, and it was a great way to launch Marvel on [Disney Plus]," Winderbaum told me. "We learned, as time went on, the shared universe started to feel like an obligation to people, and that cost us a sense of discovery, especially on the television side.
"It doesn't matter if you can jump in and watch Moon Knight without knowing anything else. There was a sense, because of the preceding decade of the shared universe and the films, that you had to watch everything. It was, frankly, a bit of a misconception, but an understandable one based on the way we were releasing material."
That Daredevil, VisionQuest, and, lest we forget, the cancelled Wonder Man, were conceived before Marvel Television's rebranding in 2024 is telling. The studio's production philosophy has seemingly changed, and with little else on the horizon, Winderbaum appears to be taking the opportunity to clear the decks and start over.
هەفتانە هەرسکردنەکان، چیرۆکەکانی ئەو کۆمەڵگایانەی کە خۆشت دەوێن و زۆر شتی تر
سەرچاوەی فەرمی بە زمانی ئینگلیزی: https://www.gamesradar.com/entertainment/marvel-tv-shows/what-marvels-television-and-animation-nycc-panel-means-for-the-future-of-the-mcu
