Hopes were not overly high for ‘Marvel’s Inhumans’ after fans saw the first photos of the actors in costume for the new series, and those hopes shrank even more when the first teasers and trailer were released. It did not seem like the show had much substance or budget for the kinds of powers the Inhumans wielded. Ultimately, the series was not nearly as bad as people thought it was going to be, but it still did not live up to the high standards Marvel has for its content, both on the big screen and on television, and most just assumed that when the first season of ‘Inhumans’ ended, that would be the last we would see of these super-powered folk, except for cameos every now and then on ‘Agents of SHIELD.’
However, according to ABC Boss Channing Dungey, all hope is not yet lost, though the statement does not sound all that optimistic:
“It didn’t perform for us at the level that we would’ve wanted. We haven’t made any official decision yet about what we’re going to pick up in May, but I will say that the numbers, unfortunately, were less exciting for us than we hoped they would be.”
In regards to the current Friday night shows on ABC, ‘Once Upon a Time’ and ‘Marvel’s Agents of SHIELD,’ and their chances of renewal, Dungey stated at the Television Critics Association’s winter press tour:
“I would say I’m cautiously optimistic…It’s always hard at this point in January to know because some of it is also dependent on your new development and how you feel about those things, so that’s why it’s really hard at the top of the year to know exactly what’s going to happen.”
Dungey seems particularly excited for ‘SHIELD,’ which she thinks is firing on all cylinders this season:
“The creative this season, I honestly think, has been the strongest its ever been. We’ve been really excited about what the producers have been talking about for the second half of the season. I’m really looking forward to hearing them come in and talk about what their ideas would be for season 6, so we can make a better determination about whether we’re going to order another season or not.”
Does the bubble status of ‘SHIELD’ and disappointing returns for ‘Inhumans’ mean that ABC is done trying to launch superhero content? According to Dungey:
“No, not at all. We’re actually developing a reboot of The Greatest American Hero that stars an Indian-American woman from [executive producer] Nahnatchka Khan. That is something that has definitely superhero aspects to it. The question really is more: What kind of superhero show? What’s the tone? How are we doing it? But I would never say we’re closing the door on superheroes.”
As for ABC’s relationship with Marvel itself, it seems ‘Inhumans’ did not tarnish that partnership as much as some people thought it might, for Dungey also said:
“We continue to be very excited with what they’re doing with S.H.I.E.L.D. We’ve tried a few things that haven’t worked out as well as we would’ve liked. We developed a couple things this season that we don’t think are going to end up going forward, so we’re going to look really carefully about what we do next, because the idea for us is to come up with something that works very well for both Marvel and ABC, so we’re going to continue to try there.”
What are your thoughts here? Aside from ‘Agents of SHIELD,’ which admittedly took a whole season to really find its groove, could another show set in the MCU survive on network television? Would you give ‘Inhumans’ another chance if it got a season 2 with a different creative team behind the scenes? (I still blame the showrunner for a lot of what went wrong, especially since it was the same individual responsible for ‘Iron Fist’ Season 1). Share your thoughts in the comments below!
