The slate of cancellations of Netflix’s Marvel shows last fall left fans at a complete loss. First, Iron Fist was curtailed after its second season before the rest fell like dominoes. The decisions seemed to come out of nowhere, too, as recent seasons had ended on exciting cliffhangers that promised the shows would return.
Now, an interesting bit of insight from Mike Colter as shed some more light on the situation. According to the actor, Luke Cage was initially renewed before the streaming service went back on its decision. While speaking to ComicBook.com, the man who plays the bulletproof hero was asked if he was shocked by Luke Cage‘s cancellation and revealed that he wasn’t as surprised by the news as the fans as he’d witnessed some production issues that roused his suspicions beforehand, such as deadlines not being met and general stalling of work on the expected third season.
“I don’t think I was as shocked as most people were because I was a little closer to it. There were some things, some tell tale signs, that were not quite feeling right for me. Although we had an internal pick up, amongst a certain amount of people who were close to the project, and we were moving forward with the writing and writing the group writer’s room, et cetera. There was a lot of stalling. There was a lot of things that didn’t feel quite right. Then, deadlines. One deadline would come and it would go. Another deadline would come, it would go. There were some things that started to feel a little odd, so, when it happened, I was like, ‘Eh’. It wasn’t that much of a shock. But yeah, still shock.”
Fans will remember that Luke Cage season 2 ended on a whopper of a cliffhanger. With Mariah Dillard dead and Bushmaster returning to Jamaica, an unlikely individual stepped up to fill the hole in Harlem’s underworld – Luke himself. It was a great twist that promised season 3 would explore the hero going down a dark path. It was such a bold move from the writers that they must have felt pretty confident that they’d get another season, too. Tragically, though, they were wrong and now we’ll never get to see this fascinating storyline play out.
Well, at least not in full. Colter has teased that he may cameo as Luke in the upcoming third season of Jessica Jones. That would be a lot of fun, but it would still be tinged with sadness as no doubt JJ and The Punisher will join Luke Cage and the rest on the scrapheap once their next seasons have aired.