Despite Marvel’s recent success in both TV and film, ABC is opting to run only one Marvel series on the network.
After initially pursuing a spinoff of Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D titled Marvel’s Most Wanted, ABC has instead pulled the plug on the series. ABC has not offered any explanation as to why they passed on the project, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The decision to pass on Marvel’s Most Wanted comes not even two months after ABC announced Oded Fehr and Fernanda Andrade would join the cast of Marvel’s Most Wanted.
Marvel’s Most Wanted was supposed to follow Bobbi Morse, a.k.a. Mockingbird, (Adrianne Palicki) and Lance Hunter (Nick Blood) from Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. The idea behind the series was that the two ex-spies (and ex-spouses) are on the run from a lot of people who want them dead, and the only people they can trust are each other. On the run with nobody to help them, the duo would be forced to form a tenuous alliance with Dominic Fortune, who offers Bobbi and Hunter protection in exchange for them helping him further his own rogue agenda. While simultaneously working for Fortune as well as trying to solve the mystery of the conspiracy that has them on the run, Bobbi and Hunter also would take time to help those in need.
Leaving Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on ABC as the only Marvel series, Agent Carter has also been cancelled.
Agent Carter‘s cancellation is perhaps less surprising than Marvel’s Most Wanted. Agent Carter was a spinoff of Marvel’s Captain America film in which Hayley Atwell reprised her role as Agent Peggy Carter, one of the founding members of S.H.I.E.L.D. The first season was a limited series which aired in January 2015 and filled a hole on network TV while most series were on hiatus.
The first season of Agent Carter was successful on ABC and even warranted a second season, despite being marketed as a limited series. The second season, however, was not very successful. Taking into account people who watched Agent Carter through means such as DVR, the second season finale, despite the dramatic cliffhanger, only drew in 4.3 million views.
Despite not receiving the viewership ABC hoped for, it is unclear why Agent Carter was not renewed for a third installment. Hayley Atwell had already signed on for ABC’s procedural drama Conviction, which is still in the early stages and is hoping for a series order.
Agent Carter and Marvel’s Most Wanted are two shows among several others to be axed by ABC. Castle, Nashville, and The Muppets were among the shows cancelled by the network.