It looks like Loki season 2 will be the final live-action Marvel series released this year as THR has reported that the release dates of Agatha: Coven of Chaos, Echo, and more have been pushed back. These delays were rumoured earlier this year, so they don’t exactly come as a big surprise.
Loki season 2 is still on track to debut on Disney+ on October 6th. It will be followed by the second season of the animated series What If…?, which is expected to drop around Christmas Day. Echo, the Hawkeye spin-off series starring Alaqua Cox as the title character, was originally slated to debut all eight episodes on November 29th, but has now been pushed to January 2024. Next up is X-Men ’97, thje animated continuation of the classic 1990s series. The series was expected to premiere this fall, but has been pushed to early 2024. A second season is also in the works.
The biggest release date push is reserved for Agatha: Coven of Chaos, which has actually been retitled Agatha: Darkhold Diaries. Production on the series had been completed before the SAG-AFTRA strike began. The WandaVision spin-off was originally announced for a winter 2023 release, but has now been pushed back to early fall 2024. That’s quite the delay.
Ironheart, a series focusing on Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), had also finished shooting but still has work to do that isn’t possible until the strikes conclude. The series has now been removed from Marvel’s schedule with no indication of when it will drop. Daredevil: Born Again and Wonder Man were both in the middle of production when they were paused by the strikes, and it’s no longer clear when they will land either.
It’s no secret that fans haven’t been as kind to Marvel’s recent movies and TV shows as they have in the past, and while part of the reason for these delays does come down to the ongoing strikes, Marvel Studios also wants to spread out its content a little more in an effort to improve each title and make them an event for fans.