I tried to write this article when I first heard about Daredevil’s cancellation, but it quickly became clear that I needed a little time to cool off and collect my thoughts. I was, quite simply, too angry to put any coherent words to paper (and anyone who’s seen my Twitter will know I did not take the news well.) I’m choosing to preface this article by warning you that I am completely biased on this subject. Daredevil is one of my favourite TV shows of all time and Karen Page is my favourite female character of all time. I’m currently in the middle of rewatching season three with my parents, so the show is very present in my mind right now. All of these factors combined led to me being, like so many others, completely distraught when I heard the news. It’s a tough blow. Season three of Daredevil reached wide critical acclaim and completely revitalised the series, solidifying Daredevil’s place as the strongest of Netflix’s Marvel shows. So, why has it been cancelled?
Well, many fans quickly pointed the finger at Disney’s upcoming streaming service – Disney+. After the recent cancellations of Iron Fist and Luke Cage, rumours of possible tension between Netflix and Marvel arose. Many theorised that the cancellations were due to struggles over contract negotiations. Perhaps Disney wanted to come out of the gates running as a new and upcoming streaming service, and no longer wanted to be generating a profit for its primary competition. Nonetheless, fans hoped Daredevil would still be safe from the dubbed “Disney Purge” due to its commercial success and its higher level of critical acclaim than Netflix’s other Marvel shows.
To the fans frustration, both Iron Fist’s and Luke Cage’s second (and now final) seasons ended on cliff-hangers, leaving no doubt that their cancellations came as a shock to the creators. It wasn’t as much of a surprise to fans however, as Luke Cage and Iron Fist especially, were two of the least successful Marvel/Netflix creations (although I would personally still defend Luke Cage season 2 till my dying breath… and the first half of season one.) Many wrote the cancellations off due to the shows’ lack of widespread popularity, remaining hopeful that fan favourites like Daredevil would remain untouched. Some fans even speculated that Luke Cage and Danny Rand might still live on in a joint Heroes for Hire series, which would suit the family-friendly branding of Disney+. However, now that Daredevil has been axed also, fans are left to assume that Disney is in fact purging all of its content from competing streaming platforms. This would indicate that Netflix’s remaining Marvel shows, Jessica Jones and The Punisher, are likely to get the chop shortly after the release of their upcoming seasons.
It seems like a clear-cut case for Disney being the one responsible for Daredevil’s cancellation – or so I thought. Fans derived an opposing theory from a recent tweet from Daredevil’s Co-Executive Producer, Sam Ernst. The tweet in question read “Had a last lunch yesterday with the Daredevil writers. Sushi provided by our Captain, @erikoleson. Marvel execs there too, just as stunned as we were. More than lunch, really: a wake. A show gets cancelled, all those characters we love die. Why I hate my job. Why I love it, too.” If Disney cancelled Daredevil, then surely the Marvel Executives would be aware of the show’s cancellation. There is, of course, rumoured tension between the Marvel film creators and the Marvel TV creators – so perhaps this is simply a case of miscommunication between separate branches of Marvel. However, it’s also possible that it was actually Netflix that cancelled Daredevil, not Disney.
Time and time again, Netflix has demonstrated its prioritisation for cheap, profitable projects over more expensive higher-quality projects (see Sense8 and The Get Down). Netflix may not have wanted to pay increasing licencing costs to Disney, especially now that Disney is rolling out its new streaming service in direct competition to Netflix. I’m honestly not sure I want to believe this theory, and it’s not because I don’t think it’s possible; it’s because I’d hate to see Daredevil cancelled over something so arbitrary, so impersonal.
You see, I can understand if a show is cancelled due to low quality, low viewership or extortionate production costs – at least these reasons are in some way a reflection on the show itself. Daredevil’s cancellation is a by-product. It’s the result of Disney and Netflix’s refusal to compromise, not even for the sake of their joint creation – which neither could have made without the other’s help in the first place. Maybe the cancellation is a result of Netflix deciding Daredevil isn’t worth its cost anymore; maybe it’s that simple. Maybe it’s because Disney thinks they don’t need Netflix to create content for them anymore (even though Marvel originally went to Netflix because it could create far darker content than Marvel could – which is very much still a factor under ‘family-friendly’ Disney’s reign.)
I’d say Disney has more motivation to pull the plug on Daredevil than Netflix does, but there’s enough implication of Netflix being the true culprit for me to stay open-minded. Netflix certainly has a history of axing critically acclaimed shows out of the blue, so I wouldn’t put it past them. Either way, the decision had nothing to do with the fan’s wishes or the quality of the content they were putting out. It had nothing to do with the hard work of the cast and crew, who deserve a proper send-off. At the end of the day, Daredevil’s cancellation is a harsh lesson and reminder of how truly brutal this industry can be.
TheScreenReview 