Neither Inhumans nor Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. are guaranteed to be on our screens much longer.
That’s the news coming out of TV Line’s annual breakdown of ABC and three of its biggest shows: Inhumans, S.H.I.E.L.D. and the fantasy-fuelled Once Upon a Time.
Turns out all three have struggled to retain much of an audience on the network’s Friday night slot, leading ABC entertainment chief Channing Dungey to cast doubt on their respective futures. Chatting to TV Line during the Television Critics Association winter press tour, Dungey began by addressing Inhumans and its many shortcomings.
It didn’t perform for us at the level that we would have wanted. We haven’t made any official decisions yet but I will say the numbers were less exciting for us than we hoped they would be.
The forecast is similarly bleak for Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D., after Dungey warned that the sixth season of Marvel’s flagship TV show isn’t necessarily guaranteed – even if she believes that S.H.I.E.L.D. is currently in the midst of one of its strongest outings, creatively speaking.
“This season, I honestly think is the strongest that it’s ever been, and we’ve been really excited about what the producers are talking about for the second half of the season.” However, the studio is waiting to hear from producers to “make a better determination about whether we’re going to order another season or not.”
As for ABC’s Marvel lineup, in general, Channing Dungey concluded:
We’ve tried a few things that haven’t worked out as well as we would have liked. We developed a couple of things this season that we don’t think are going to end up going forward, so we’re going to look really carefully about what we do next.
So, there you have it; Inhumans and Agents Of S.H.I.E.L.D. are precariously close to cancelation. Truth be told, the writing has been on the wall for Inhumans for quite some time, which received the full backing of IMAX prior to release. It’s not looking good for Marvel’s Royal Family, then, but we’ll be bringing you all the latest as this story unfolds.