The head of TV at Marvel Studios has addressed why so few MCU series get a second season on Disney+. To date, only four MCU streaming series have received more than one season: Loki, What If...?, Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, and Daredevil: Born Again. While many of Marvel's Disney+ shows feed into other projects in the MCU and their characters often appear in Marvel Studios films after their TV debuts, there is a surprising lack of returnability in these Disney+ shows.
Marvel Studios executive Brad Winderbaum revealed why this is the case in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, explaining that making shows with "marquee names" has made second seasons difficult due to the "margins on TV [being] smaller."
"Producing shows with marquee names, it made it really challenging to produce second seasons; the margins on TV are smaller."
This explains why Marvel's Disney+ shows with Avengers in the lead role - like WandaVision, Hawkeye, or The Falcon and the Winter Soldier - were never renewed for more episodes (although it could be argued that Agatha All Along is a sequel to WandaVision).
Winderbaum's explanation of the profit margins being the main difficulty in this process aligns with recent comments made by Hawkeye star Jeremy Renner, who revealed he turned down a second season of the Disney+ show after being offered less compensation. Some of the stars of Marvel Studios' films receive extravagant salaries to play their characters (like Robert Downey Jr.'s return for Avengers: Doomsday), which simply cannot be matched in the world of streaming television.
The lack of renewal for Marvel's Disney+ shows comes amid a shift in strategy for the studio. After initially flooding the zone with new Marvel content to bolster Disney+, the studio is revamping its structure to television, which Winderbaum said will result in fewer "big Avengers names" on TV (although these characters "can still make appearances"):
"Looking to the future, does it mean that we won’t have big Avengers names? No. They may not be the titular character of the show, but they can still make appearances."
Marvel Studios has produced 15 original television series for Disney+, which has seen MCU actors like Elizabeth Olsen, Paul Bettany, Tom Hiddleston, Sebastian Stan, and Samuel L. Jackson reprise their Marvel roles on streaming. Of these projects, Ms. Marvel, WandaVision, and Hawkeye were the highest-rated by critics on Rotten Tomatoes, along with animated series X-Men '97 and Your Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man.
How Will Marvel Choose Which Disney+ Series Get Second Seasons?
It's evident that Marvel's expansion of the Avengers team members onto television has made it surprisingly challenging to guarantee multiple seasons. However, Winderbaum's strategy of shifting the big-name Avengers to supporting roles is more cost-effective. It leaves the MCU's TV universe as a space to introduce newer characters that wouldn't have the same room in the major Marvel movies.
This strategy has already been effective in some Marvel TV projects, such as She-Hulk: Attorney at Law, which allowed Mark Ruffalo to return as Bruce Banner without him being the titular character. It's also served as a launchpad for Disney+ stars to enter Marvel Studios films, as was the case with Iman Vellani's Kamala Khan, who jumped from Ms. Marvel into The Marvels.
Daredevil: Born Again has been an example of a recent success out of Marvel TV, with the series serving as a space to recapture the fervour from Marvel's Netflix TV series and reintroduce these characters in the MCU, which earned the show an early renewal. The studio's animated series have also effectively brought back many Avengers stars to voice their characters in What If...? and Marvel Zombies. With animated shows, much cheaper to produce and less demanding on the stars, these shows often receive multiple seasons and offer a way for fans to watch their favorite Marvel stars on TV.
Ironheart, Eyes of Wakanda, and Wonder Man will be the next TV shows from Marvel Studios. As for whether these shows will get another season under Marvel's new model, The Hollywood Reporter said the company is taking a wait-and-see approach as it moves to reduce the overall number of TV shows it's producing.
