‘Daredevil’‘s original showrunner has commented on Netflix’s cancellation of the three-seasons-old Marvel series. Taking to Twitter, Steven S. DeKnight wrote:
Deeply saddened by the news. Honored to have been a part of it. https://t.co/NPvgbhdUbH
— Steven DeKnight (@stevendeknight) November 30, 2018
Netflix praised DeKnight’s work on Season 1, referring to his “bold, visceral storytelling” and “unforgettable work.” In June, Netflix signed him to a multi-year deal which enables him to develop new shows and movies for the streamer. In addition to ‘Daredevil’, DeKnight made his feature directing debut last year with ‘Pacific Rim: Uprising’, and has worked on ‘Spartacus’, ‘Smallville’, ‘Angel’ and ‘Dollhouse’.
DeKnight came aboard ‘Daredevil’ to replace Drew Goddard, who had developed the series, but who left to direct the Sony film ‘Sinister Six’ which wound up being scrapped. Doug Petrie and Marco Ramirez took over showrunning duties for Season 2 and moved over to ‘The Defenders’. Erik Oleson served as showrunner for ‘Daredevil’ Season 3.
The cancellation of ‘Daredevil’ was announced last night and followed the cancellations of ‘Iron Fist’ and ‘Luke Cage’ in October. Reportedly, viewership of ‘Daredevil’ Season 3 was down over 50% from Season 2. However, Marvel’s parent company, Disney’s relationship with Netflix is deteriorating. Disney is launching its own family-oriented streaming service, Disney+ next fall and is including splashy projects like two ‘Star Wars’ live-action series, ‘The Mandalorian’ and a Cassian Andor ‘Rogue One’ prequel and additional Marvel series that will connect to the movies, unlike the mostly free-standing Netflix shows did. The only series confirmed so far is ‘Loki’ starring Tom Hiddleston, but reportedly, Disney is developing shows starring ‘The Scarlet Witch’, ‘The Falcon and Winter Soldier’ and ‘Rocket and Groot’.
In addition to Disney+, Disney will also take over 60% controlling interest in Netflix’s competitor Hulu and plans to majorly push the service, which currently pales in scope to Netflix. Disney plans to expand Hulu globally. Meanwhile, Netflix subscriptions have plateaued, as most people that are going to subscribe already have.
However, according to Netflix’s statement, although they won’t be producing any new episodes of the cancelled Marvel series, the existing shows aren’t going anywhere and Netflix will continue to house them.
