We’ve had to get used to Netflix cancelling a lot of their originals series of late, but one that came as a massive shock was the axing of Jupiter’s Legacy. The streamer invested a ton of cash into the superhero show and had promoted it heavily, but in the end, it was announced that a second season wouldn’t be happening less than a month after the first one came out. The move was met with frustration by fans, and that’s obviously how the cast felt, too.
Star Josh Duhamel – who played Superman-like hero The Utopian – reacted to the news in a hilarious way when the cancellation first happened, but he’s now opened up about how disappointing it was to find out that there weren’t going to be any further episodes. In a recent interview, he explained that the writers had an epic second season planned that would have seen his character undergo a “pretty dark” arc, saying:
“You know, it’s just disappointing, I’m not gonna lie. We all worked very hard on that and promoted it very hard and thought we made a really good show, and I think [with] the audience, it performs so well and continues to do really well. We were a little bit surprised by it not getting renewed. For me, I never saw it going more than two or three seasons because that would have fulfilled whatever graphic novels were written for it. And that second season was going to be so much fun because it had the makings of this modern tragedy where some pretty dark stuff happens to The Utopian. And I was excited creatively to do that. I’m not sure the reasoning for it. I’m grateful for the opportunity to have done it, and I think we all did a really good job on it. But this is the way of the business, you take your lumps.
Perhaps trying to save face, Netflix never mentioned the word “cancelled” when revealing that Jupiter’s Legacy wouldn’t return, instead promising that the universe will expand with other adaptations of creator Mark Millar’s comics. For instance, the upcoming Supercrooks show. There’s the potential for new projects to pick up the dangling plot threads of the series, then, meaning it’s possible that Duhamel could return as The Utopian. And while he’s not convinced it’s going to happen, he hopes for a film to wrap up the storyline of the superpowered Sampson family.
“I don’t know if we’re ever going to see him [The Utopian] again. Though it sure would have been fun to do that second season. I think they should do a feature, just encapsulating what would have happened in the second season. Not do the full season, but just a feature. . . . I don’t know if they’ll do it or not, but all those costumes are ready to go. And they weren’t cheap, I’ll tell you that much.”
Though Duhamel only makes a reference to the costly costumes, it’s believed that Netflix pumped tons of cash into the series overall, with the full price tag for season 1 thought to be close to a whopping $200 million. The sizeable production costs may have been part of the reason why the company decided to call it a day so soon, but the actor makes a good point that it would be dumb to waste all the money they’ve already invested by not allowing the characters’ storyline to continue in some fashion.
In any case, while we wait for more news, all eight episodes of Jupiter’s Legacy can be found on Netflix.
