The Defenders represents a very different creative proposition when compared to its superpowered progenitors – and we’re not just referring to the ways in which Marvel’s team-up series focuses on four core characters as opposed to a single, reluctant hero.
Whereas Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist all adhered to Netflix’s 13-episode template, the forthcoming ensemble series bucks tradition by opting for a truncated, eight-episode stint. On the one hand, it ought to allay fears that The Defenders will succumb to the mid-season slump – an issue that has arguably affected all four of Marvel and Netflix’s solo efforts thus far – but it’ll also pave the way for a much more “frenetic” season. Or so Finn Jones believes.
During his appearance at Houston’s 2017 Comicpalooza event – the same event from which we learned that Luke Cage season 2 is targeting an early 2018 premiere – the Iron Fist star touched base on The Defenders and its tight-knit nature, before revealing that the story is set to unfold over the course of a “couple of days.”
As relayed by MCU Exchange, Jones hinted at the “real-time frenetic energy” that will be coursing through The Defenders, as all four of NYC’s reluctant heroes scramble to prevent “impending doom.” We suspect The Hand and Sigourney Weaver’s Alexandra have something to do with that.
[The Defenders] takes place in a very short amount of time. It’s 8 episodes but it takes place over a couple of days. So it has this real-time frenetic energy to it which I think adds to the impending doom. So we’re all kind of brought together not through choice, but through necessity. We don’t want to work with each other but our backs are against the wall and we kind of have to.
All eight episodes of The Defenders are booked in for a premiere via Netflix on August 18th. Marvel’s small-screen universe is set to span far beyond 2017, what with Jessica Jones and Luke Cage preparing for their respective second seasons – and that’s before you factor in Daredevil season 3 and the planned Punisher spinoff, which is expected to herald the return of Frank Castle sometime this year.
