Netflix finally pulled the plug on the last two house-produced Marvel Defenders shows remaining on the streaming service, announcing that The Punisher is finished after its second season (which hit the service a month ago) and that Jessica Jones will conclude after the release of its upcoming third season.
The cancellation of the two shows may not come as a huge surprise to those who have been following the company’s Marvel collaborations. With Marvel now owned by Disney, and Disney planning its own on-demand streaming service, Netflix canceled all of its original Marvel shows, including Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and Daredevil. The decision not to renew these two shows, in particular, has been rumored for some time.
The Marvel-licensed shows that Netflix produced will not be leaving the service, despite there being no new episodes, so you can still re-watch any action you missed from the various superheroes and villains surrounding each of Netflix’s Defenders.
“Marvel’s The Punisher will not return for a third season on Netflix,” Netflix told Deadline. “Showrunner Steve Lightfoot, the terrific crew, and exceptional cast including star Jon Bernthal, delivered an acclaimed and compelling series for fans, and we are proud to showcase their work on Netflix for years to come.”
The company had similarly positive things to say about the cast and crew of Jessica Jones. “We are grateful to showrunner Melissa Rosenberg, star Krysten Ritter and the entire cast and crew, for three incredible seasons of this groundbreaking series, which was recognized by the Peabody Awards among many others.”
This concludes a fruitful half-decade of production partnerships between Marvel and Netflix, with critically acclaimed shows like Daredevil helping to increase the attention to the on-demand streamers’ original programming.
For now, fans of Marvel shows can re-watch the episodes still on the service and look forward to Jessica Jones season 3, which will premiere later this year. They can also anticipate Marvel TV’s new deal with Hulu, which will see four new series and one special coming to the fellow on-demand streamer. And we’re probably very likely to see lots of Marvel content on Disney’s upcoming Disney Plus streaming service when it launches in the coming months.
