Disney+'s Black Panther spin-off looks unlikely to return for Season 2 after a new update signalled a huge setback. Years after fans were promised a Black Panther TV show, that finally arrived this summer with Eyes of Wakanda, a four-episode animated anthology series. Eyes of Wakanda faced a strong critic-fan divide, with reviewers scoring the Black Panther spin-off at 92% on Rotten Tomatoes while the audiences were far lower on the Disney+ series, landing it just 52%.
Disney+'s Black Panther spin-off, Eyes of Wakanda, may hail from Marvel Animation, but its visuals were actually crafted by the Scotland-based Axis Studios. While the series' renewal chances remain up in the air, Season 2 just got less likely after Axis officially shut its doors and filed for bankruptcy.
A recent report from Forbes explored the lead-up to Axis' final collapse, noting that the studio struggled with "the one-two punch of the pandemic followed by the Hollywood strikes" along with the impact of inflation on its profits.
That's not to say there weren't other struggles inside Axis, such as its workflow of only developing a small number of projects at once, which often created "cashflow pressures" as they awaited "large completion payments," as they also sometimes saw "significant gaps [arise] between commissions."
BBC News reported in July 2024 that the Emmy-winning Axis had collapsed due to "severe cash flow problems," leading to 162 immediate layoffs. The studio had presumably completed work on Eyes of Wakanda long before then, allowing the series' release in August 2025 to go ahead as planned.
Ultimately, Eyes of Wakanda became one of Axis' final projects, taking the studio's talents to the massive MCU audience this year. The starpower behind the Black Panther spin-off included Winnie Harlow, Cress Williams, Anika Noni Rose, Zeke Alton, Steve Toussaint, and many more MCU newcomers.
Why Eyes of Wakanda Season 2 Was Unlikely to Happen Anyway
Showrunner Todd Harris told SFX Magazine (via Cosmic Marvel) that "there are always more stories" to be told and the team "definitely have more in the tank," leaving the door open to Eyes of Wakanda Season 2.
As Axis Media was only an outside contractor hired to create the series' albeit gorgeous animation, Marvel Studios could still push forward with Eyes of Wakanda Season 2 if it saw fit, pulling in another studio in its place.
However, as Eyes of Wakanda failed to make much of a splash and Marvel Studios is currently tightening up its Disney+ output, reducing the number of shows in development, it wouldn't be surprising if the story ended there.
As the Black Panther spin-off took a historic spot at the start of the MCU timeline, taking place centuries before the Infinity and Multiverse Sagas, there are endless stories left to be told about the Wakandan heroes and villains over the years.
Notably, Eyes of Wakanda came about as part of a five-year exclusive deal for Black Panther director Ryan Coogler and his production company, Proximity Media, to create series for Disney+. That deal was signed in February 2021 and will thus lapse next year, leaving it unclear whether he will renew for more projects.
Coogler is sticking around at Marvel Studios as he has already begun work on Black Panther 3 for a 2028 release after releasing Sinners, but there are no signs of any more Wakandan projects being in the works for Disney+ at this time.
