It’s that stressful time of year again, when networks need to decide to either renew or cancel our favorite television shows. One cult series that fans are desperately waiting to hear about is Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Despite the success of its parent franchise, the ABC show has struggled to earn strong ratings for its past few seasons. Still, the support of its adoring fanbase has seen it through to this point.
But is there enough incentive for the network to renew it for a sixth season? Well, we can’t say for sure, but we should find out quite soon. According to MCU Cosmic, ABC’s Upfront presentation is Tuesday at 4pm EST. Which means that if the show is set to be cancelled, we might know by tomorrow. If not, then we’ll hear about it the day after. As for what’ll end up happening to it, MCU Cosmic believes that it probably won’t live to see another day.
Sources close to the outlet have informed them that though the network has been trying to work things out with S.H.I.E.L.D., it’s not looking good at the moment. In fact, MCU Cosmic even goes so far as to say that fans may have to “brace themselves for some bad news,” with the headwinds “pointing to a grim resolution.”
While we’d obviously love to see more from the show, at least the writers are prepared for a possible cancellation. From what we understand, the upcoming season finale has been partially written as a potential series finale, just in case it doesn’t get renewed. That said, it’ll still tease more stories to come, in the hope that ABC does give it the thumbs up.
Despite this new report, we’re still holding out hope for a season 6. After all, last month we heard that S.H.I.E.L.D.’s Marvel connections were what was keeping it alive, as Disney’s interested in having at least one MCU property on network television. ABC has been particularly brutal with its other Marvel series, as Agent Carter was cancelled after just two limited runs and Inhumans appears to have met the same fate after just one, so this could be the show they keep around.
With any luck, we’ll be able to go into next week’s finale with the knowledge that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will return. If not, well, then at least the episode, which airs on May 18th, will prove to have a very apt title – “The End.”
