After a week of ups and downs with Marvel Studios gaining access to Spider-Man again and Ghost Rider getting cancelled, I’m sure the one question on everyone’s mind is what is happening with Marvel’s TV output. No? Just me? Well it’s not looking good to put it lightly.
After several years of live-action series including Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Legion, and the entirety of the Netflix universe, Marvel is putting the shift towards its Disney+ output of shows and not so much its library of titles for network TV and other streaming services. It makes sense from a business perspective, but at the same time it sucks that a lot of very well liked shows are getting the ax. I personally have never seen Legion, but I’ve heard nothing but great things about it from everyone I talk to about it.
It appears that the main motivating factor behind this decision is keeping the series that directly interact with the MCU all under the Marvel Studios umbrella. As confusing as it may seem, with both Marvel Television and Marvel Studios are developing Marvel content, the Marvel Studios team are the ones directly responsible for the movies and have the budget to create high quality shows. The budget for each of their upcoming TV shows (Wandavision, Falcon & the Winter Soldier, She-Hulk, Ms. Marvel, and Moon Knight) are expected to be $150-180 million each over to course of six to eight episodes. Contrast that with all of the Marvel Netflix shows, where each of its four main series (Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist) all had a shared budget of $200 between four 13 episode seasons.
So with the TV production focus shifting towards Marvel Studios, what’s left for Marvel Television to do? As of now, the only live-action series being produced by Marvel Television are Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Runaways, and Cloak & Dagger, all of which have seen lower ratings in the past year and most likely will be cancelled, except in the case of Agents, which previously announced their upcoming seventh season will be their last. Hulu does have a slate of animated Marvel series in production, such as Howard the Duck, MODOK, Hit-Monkey, and Tigra an Dazzler, all of which are under the Marvel Television banner, so while their live-action output may be going the way of the Inhumans, at least they’ll be making some animated series to compensate.
As Marvel Studios Moves Into Series, TV Unit’s Focus Is Unclear – [Variety]
