Well, ladies, gentlemen and comic book fans everywhere, the time has finally come. The biggest ax Netflix could drop has now been dropped: After three seasons and launching the Marvel/Netflix series of shows with a bang, the streaming service has canceled DAREDEVIL, only one month after the premiere of its fantastic third season. Now is the time to throw things and curse to the heavens, should you feel the urge to do so.
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Netflix released a statement to Deadline this evening, thanking the cast, crew and saying how proud they were of the show over its three-season run.
“Marvel’s Daredevil will not return for a fourth season on Netflix. We are tremendously proud of the show’s last and final season and although it’s painful for the fans, we feel it best to close this chapter on a high note. We’re thankful to our partners at Marvel, showrunner Erik Oleson, the show’s writers, stellar crew and incredible cast including Charlie Cox as Daredevil himself, and we’re grateful to the fans who have supported the show over the years,” Netflix added just a month after the third season of the series launched on the service.”
This is something fans had come to expect over the last month or two, especially after Netflix canceled IRON FIST (despite a mostly improved second season), and then followed that up one week later by sending the Hero of Harlem, Luke Cage, out to pasture by canceling his show after it premiered season two this summer. Those paying attention realized this may have something to do with Disney wanting more content for its upcoming streaming service – Disney+ – perhaps looking to bring the shows over from Netflix. Though we have no idea if that’s the plan, Netflix continued its statement by saying there is more Daredevil yet to come.
Now with Daredevil joining the bread line, there remains only two Marvel shows left under Netflix – JESSICA JONES and THE PUNISHER. Both of those season apparenly have new seasons on the docket, and are moving ahead as planned. There's no word yet if the characters from the canceled shows would appear in either of those shows, so whatever "future" those characters have remains to be seen.
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The report notes that these cancelations have come at a time of tension between Netflix and Marvel TV. The streaming service made the deal with Marvel over five years ago, back when they were still hunting to original content, and thus shelled out major cash for the earlier seasons of shows. The shows remain costly to make, but now Netflix is drowning in its own original programming, with new shows and movies popping up weekly. Between that, differing opinions over episode orders (Netflix wanted to go down to a solid 10 from the previous 13), and debates over showrunner change-ups, it seems the magical years between the two media empires has come to an end.
As expected as this may have been after the first two shows got the ax, and even though Daredevil may get another shot soon, this is still a harsh blow. The last season proved why Daredevil was the strongest character these shows had, and his seasons were certainly the most well-crafted, featuring excellent performances from Charlie Cox as Matt Murdock/Daredevil and Vincent D'Onofrio as Wilson Fisk/Kingpin, and showcasing some unreal, jaw-dropping action. The end of the third season teased some big things on the way, and now thanks to this who knows if we'll see where the story goes. Ugh, I'm going to go lay down.