“Luke Cage” Star Suspected Cancellation
Three of Marvel’s five Netflix series have been cancelled so far. When “Iron Fist” got the chop it wasn’t a surprise, but the axing of “Luke Cage” following a decidedly more even-keeled second season was unexpected. The subsequent cancellation of a resurgent “Daredevil” has led to outright resignation to the fact the other two’s time will also soon be up.
One man who suspected the writing was on the wall though, probably before everyone else, was “Luke Cage” star Mike Colter. Speaking with
ComicBook.com, Colter says hearing the news that the show wouldn’t return was ultimately “bittersweet” but he also sort-of suspected it:
“It kinda did catch me off guard. I don’t think I was as shocked as most people were because I was a little closer to it. There were some things, some tell tale signs, that were not quite feeling right for me.”
Although we had an internal pickup, amongst a certain amount of people who were close to the project, and we were moving forward with the writing and writing the group writers room, et cetera. There was a lot of stalling. There was a lot of things that didn’t feel quite right. Then, deadlines. One deadline would come and it would go. Another deadline would come, it would go.”
There were some things that started to feel a little odd. So, when it happened, I was like, ‘Eh.’ It wasn’t that much of a shock. But yeah, still shock.”
There’s also no sign of anything fans can do to ensure the show has a future because it’s ultimately a decision which will be made by both Marvel and others.
“I don’t know that it’s something that fans can do, necessarily. I think it’s a real network/studio thing. I think it’ll resolve itself, one way or the other. There just needs to be some time. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe that’s it. But I don’t think the fans… as much as the fans – the outpouring of the fans is very touching and well received and it’d be appreciated – I don’t think it’s gonna make anything happen, but it’s nice to know that. I think, ultimately, if it comes back, it’ll probably come back because of the fans demand for it. I don’t think that their work is going in vain. It just may not happen as soon as they want it to.”
Disney+ is expected to be focusing on new shows set firmly in the MCU in 2019 and 2020, so it’s unlikely these characters – even if they could – would return until well into 2021 at the earliest.