In the past few months, the Netflix arm of Marvel’s film and TV empire has clearly been winding things down. Whether it’s because of Disney’s forthcoming streaming service, or simply because the pop culture mega-conglomerate is trying to bring all of its properties in-house from now on, Netflix previously announced that Daredevil, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist have all been cancelled.
Now the last dominoes have fallen, as Deadline reports that The Punisher and Jessica Jones have been axed. The former leaves just after its second season debuted on the streaming service, while the latter will air its already completed third season before ending its run. There’s no current release date for the final season of Jessica Jones, but it will mark the conclusion of a five-year run on Netflix for the far more adult side of Marvel’s output.
Here’s Netflix’s statement to Deadline about the cancellations:
“Marvel’s The Punisher will not return for a third season on Netflix. 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. 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.”
Marvel released its own statement on the cancellations as well, complete with an intriguing final note:
“It had never been done before. Four separate television series, each with different super-talented showrunners, writers, directors, cast and crew, coming out months apart and then… they would meet in a single event series all set in the heart of New York City. We called them The Defenders.
And together we were thrilled by stories of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and even the Punisher joined in! They said it couldn’t be done. But Marvel assembled amazing teams to write, produce, direct, edit, and score 13 seasons and 161 one-hour episodes. Take a moment and go online and look at the dazzling list of actors, writers, directors, and musicians who graced us with the very best of their craft.
We loved each and every minute of it.
And we did it all for you — the fans — who cheered for us around the world and made all the hard work worth it.
On behalf of everyone at Marvel Television, we couldn’t be more proud or more grateful to our audience. Our Network partner may have decided they no longer want to continue telling the tales of these great characters… but you know Marvel better than that.
As Matthew Murdock’s Dad once said, ‘The measure of a man is not how he gets knocked to the mat, it’s how he gets back up.’ To be continued…!”
Punisher star Jon Bernthal also weighed in via Instagram:
While the shows always shared a great deal of continuity, none of the grittier Marvel stars have yet to make it into the silver screen side of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but who knows. What happens with the characters, or their respective series, remains to be seen. But for now, the Netflix era of the MCU has come to its end.
