Marvel Television’s Wonder Man will not return for Season 2, according to a Thursday report by Variety. The announcement marks a reversal from earlier this year, when Disney+ seemingly renewed the superhero comedy series in response to a strong critical and commercial response.
Variety’s anonymous sources stated that Marvel never assembled a writer’s room for Season 2, with the show’s writers having been released from their existing contracts with the company. Showrunner and head writer for the series Andrew Guest (30 Rock, Brooklyn Nine-Nine) corroborated the report via an Instagram story (per DiscussingFilm).
“Marvel has cancelled Wonder Man,” Guest’s post reads. “So proud of the show we made. So grateful to have worked with Destin Daniel Cretton, Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Sir Ben Kingsley. Want to thank everyone who watched and all the critics who supported us.”
As of now, Marvel Studios has yet to issue a public statement regarding the cancellation, but the sudden change of course is made all the more ironic by the fact that Wonder Man is, at its core, a story about the whims of Hollywood. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Aquaman, Ambulance) features in the series as Simon Williams, a rising actor struggling to keep his burgeoning superpowers — now illegal within the film industry — hidden as he tries for the starring role in an in-universe superhero movie (also called Wonder Man). Sir Ben Kingsley (Schindler’s List, Tuck Everlasting) co-stars as Trevor Slattery, which he reprises from the 2010 entry Iron Man 3.
Per Variety, Wonder Man received some of the brightest reviews of any Marvel Television project to date, debuting with a 91 percent from critics and an 87 percent from general audiences. The series was praised for its metafictional elements, its originality, and its explicit acknowledgement of the phenomenon of “superhero fatigue” — a phrase that has followed around the post-Endgame MCU like a curse since its conception.
With this cancellation, Wonder Man becomes the newest member of a growing cast of MCU shows that have ended after a single season; Hawkeye, Moon Knight, Ms. Marvel, and Secret Invasion are just some of the streamer’s catalogue that have suffered the same fate. It’s worth noting, though, that the MCU’s extensive history of crossovers and spin-offs means viewers may have a chance to see more of Simon Williams somewhere down the line. In the meantime, Season 1 of Wonder Man is streaming now on Disney+ worldwide.
