Disney’s cancellation of Daredevil came as something of a shock. Fans weren’t particularly surprised when the underperforming Iron Fist got the chop, and perhaps Luke Cage was just an edge case, but surely the critically acclaimed Daredevil, which had just screened its best season yet, was safe, right? Sadly, that proved not to be the case.
While many reasons have been bandied about, my opinion is that with Disney Plus – Disney’s own streaming service – on the way, the corporation simply didn’t see the point in providing content for its soon-to-be primary competitor. Worst of all, industry analysts predicted that the shows’ cancellation was permanent, pointing out that complex contractual issues meant these heroes couldn’t just be moved to Disney Plus. Not to mention that the service will reportedly not be screening anything above a PG-13 rating, anyways.
But now there’s a small ray of hope. Kevin Mayer, Chairman of Disney’s direct-to-consumer and international division, who has ESPN+, Hulu and Disney Plus under his purview, was asked by THR if there was any chance of the Netflix heroes continuing on a Disney owned network, and here’s what he said:
“They are very high-quality shows. We haven’t yet discussed that, but I would say that’s a possibility.”
It’s not exactly great news, but a “possibility” is certainly an upgrade from a “no.” Mayer went on to discuss his vision for Disney Plus as well, saying:
“We have to make the app and the technology pretty seamless. You can find our content under our key brands, which is a real differentiator for us. Many of our core brands are going to be in that service. Some of this content will have an initial window, like a theatrically released film, some will be on television first, some will be original for the service. It will skew naturally from an hours perspective, because of how much we’ve invested over the years, toward product that’s non-original, but we’re making a lot of original content.”
That original content does sound pretty neat. The Mandalorian is shaping up to be a refreshingly lightsaber-free take on the Star Wars universe, apparently following some of the scum of the galaxy around Tatooine, and the various Marvel TV shows they’ve announced sound like they’re going to be connected to the cinematic MCU in a way that the Netflix series never were. Suffice it to say, there’s lots to look forward to with Disney Plus, even if Daredevil and co. don’t make the cut.
