It is finished. Jessica Jones and The Punisher have officially been canceled, reports TheWrap, thus ending the Marvel era of Netflix. Their cancellations follow the individual axes buried into the skulls of Luke Cage, Daredevil, and Iron Fist, not to mention The Defenders.
Though this means that The Punisher’s so-so second season will be its last, rest assured that Jessica Jones will air its third season, which has already wrapped filming, though its exact date has not been set.
“Marvel’s The Punisher will not return for a third season on Netflix,” the streamer said in a statement. “Showrunner Steve Lightfoot, the terrific crew, and exceptional cast including star Jon Bernthal, delivered an acclaimed and compelling series for fans, and we are proud to showcase their work on Netflix for years to come.”
“In addition, in reviewing our Marvel programming, we have decided that the upcoming third season will also be the final season for Marvel’s Jessica Jones,” they continued. “We are grateful to showrunner Melissa Rosenberg, star Krysten Ritter and the entire cast and crew, for three incredible seasons of this groundbreaking series, which was recognized by the Peabody Awards among many others. We are grateful to Marvel for five years of our fruitful partnership and thank the passionate fans who have followed these series from the beginning.”
The cancellations come ahead of the launch of Disney’s own streaming platform later this year. It’s unclear if Netflix’s slate of Marvel shows will find a second life on Disney+, but there’s some reason to be optimistic. The Punisher star Jon Bernthal has said that “there will be more Frank Castle one way or the other,” and Disney+ chairman told The Hollywood Reporter that it’s “a possibility. ” If so, they’d join some of the platform’s announced offerings, which include The Mandalorian and spin-off series about the Scarlet Witch and Loki. As TheWrap notes, Hulu, which is partly owned by Disney, could also potentially revive one of the series. They do, after all, air Marvel spin-off Runaways, and just picked up four Marvel animated series (including Howard The Duck).
Netflix will be just fine. It’s got a number of other ambitious, form-spanning projects in the hopper, including adaptations of The Chronicles Of Narnia and the oeuvre of Roald Dahl.