While the Marvel Cinematic Universe has had lots of great success and the creative powers-that-be have made many moves with characters, both on the big screen and the small, that have been applauded by fans and critics alike… it’s far from a perfect setup. Marvel has had some misfires and mistakes in their production plans, and none of their errors may be more egregious – at least from the fans’ perspective – than cancelling the acclaimed ‘Agent Carter’ series after just two seasons on ABC.
Hayley Atwell, the star of the show (who has also appeared as the titular character in several MCU films across the in-universe timeline), has long been appreciative of being able to be part of the great experience of the large comic company’s shared on-screen universe. As she said herself in a recent interview:
“I feel very privileged to be part of something that people really love and that entertains them. But also, you’re going to these conventions and meeting people who’ve named their son Carter and people who have a tattoo of ‘I Know My Value,’ the tagline. She’s a force of good and there are a lot of social media sites where girls and guys have come together and become good friends on an international scale because of their belief in some of the values that Peggy talks about. And that provides them with a different connection that a family situation or school situation that they don’t really feel they have a place in. That’s really cool to me. So I’m very happy to be a part of that world and keep that going.”
For her part, Atwell certainly sounds like she’s up to the challenge of bringing Peggy Carter back to the MCU:
“I’d love to see [Peggy] more in films. I’d love to see her in her own film. And if we can keep evolving it so that she does new things so that I can surprise myself and she can keep surprising me then I’d love to do it.”
Finally, she took a moment to elaborate a bit on why ‘Agent Carter’ was so abruptly cancelled:
“You know Marvel and all the creatives behind the making of the show loved it. And we loved it. We all loved making it. It was a network political thing. They wanted to put me in something mainstream [‘Conviction’] to get their ratings up rather than something that was more genre specific. There were a lot of economic decisions behind it and I wasn’t a part of the conversation. So we were all really surprised about that because we kind of got the sense that people were liking it. It had this cult following. So I know there’ve been online campaigns for it and the fact that we know that she lives until the age of 96 means that technically I could be employed for the rest of my life, you know.”
We can only hope that Marvel sees fit to bring Agent Carter back to the MCU in some fashion.
