Though Jessica Jones still has a third season to come, it’s long been assumed that the Krysten Ritter-led series and its fellow Marvel/Netflix show The Punisher are living on borrowed time after Iron Fist, Luke Cage and Daredevil all got the axe in quick succession last year.
What’s more, the end time prophecies for the Marvel/Netflix era became all the more believable earlier today when it was reported that the Disney-owned Marvel will be partnering with Hulu – a platform that’s also partially owned by Disney – to work on four adult animated shows, including a Howard the Duck series co-written by Kevin Smith. From the look of things, the Mouse House is continuing to distance itself from Netflix as it lays the groundwork for their own platform, Disney Plus, which is set to launch later this year.
Granted, the axe has yet to drop on The Punisher or Jessica Jones, but the writing is on the wall, so much so that Frank Castle himself, Jon Bernthal even told Variety last month that he’s “at peace” with the show’s likely cancelation. What happens beyond that remains a subject of ongoing speculation, with Disney’s Chairman of direct-to-consumer and international division Kevin Mayer fueling such chatter back in December when he hinted that the Netflix shows just might be brought back on Disney Plus.
At the same time, a report last year from Variety put a damper on fans’ fantasies of an imminent return for the Defenders when it revealed that the Netflix heroes can’t appear anywhere else for two years after leaving the platform. Overall, these next few years aren’t looking too promising for Daredevil and the rest, but at least Jessica Jones still has one more season in it before this era truly comes to a close.