There was some major bad news out of ABC for Marvel fans today. While it’s not much of a shock, given the rather low ratings, Marvel’s ABC ‘event series’, Agent Carter has been cancelled, and won’t be back for a third season, at least not on ABC. There’s still some hope that the series may have its lingering plot arcs wrapped up on an avenue like Netflix in the future, though for now, the show is done, even if it’s doubtful that we’ve seen the last of Peggy Carter in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Fortunately, Agent Carter star, Hayley Atwell will be just fine, as ABC has picked up her new starring vehicle, procedural drama, Conviction, for next season.
The real shock however came from the announcement that ABC is not picking up Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. spin-off, Most Wanted, despite the high buzz around Marvel’s latest television drama pitch at the network. It’s possible that the pilot just didn’t turn out that well, though more likely, the series could have been terminated due to the change in management at ABC recently, as former ABC president, Paul Lee was the primary force that was pushing for Most Wanted. It’s possible that ABC’s new president, Channing Dungey, who succeeded Lee quite recently, might have wanted to clean house at the network, along with re-focusing the network’s Marvel Cinematic Universe tie-ins to exclusively rely on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. for now, which was already renewed for a fourth season several weeks ago, alongside most of ABC’s veteran shows, and freshman series, Quantico.
Most Wanted was planned to revolve around Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. veterans, Bobbi Morse and Lance Hunter, who run across the Marvel Cinematic Universe while being pursued by a legion of villains aiming to exploit a bounty on both of their heads, with fellow Marvel scoundrel, Dominic Fortune assisting them along the way. With Most Wanted no longer moving forward, it’s possible that Morse and Hunter may return to Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. next season, though it’s currently unknown whether that will happen, or whether both characters will simply vanish in the Marvel Cinematic Universe at this point.
New ABC president, Dungey seems to be swinging the axe a lot more than many other networks regarding cancellations, as ABC has cancelled quite a few current shows, and passed over even some high-profile pitches for next season (i.e. Most Wanted), despite most competing networks renewing even several struggling veteran shows for new seasons already. It’s been confirmed that, despite aggressive negotiations for a ninth and final season of beloved crime procedural, Castle, the show is simply being cancelled now, and will conclude with the end of its current eighth season. Cult musical series, Galavant is also being axed, alongside The Muppets, which, disappointingly, was one of ABC’s most high-profile new shows of the current season, though creative upsets and negative feedback led to ratings that just couldn’t be healthily sustained for the network. Finally, two ABC dramas, Nashville and The Family, are also being cancelled after this season, both due to low ratings.
Amazingly however, low-rated but well-received drama series, American Crime has yet again received a last-minute save, and will return for a third season, even when its current second season already occurred against the odds. New ABC shows, The Catch and The Real O’Neals have also been renewed, alongside fellow freshman ABC series, Quantico, due to their strong early feedback in their debut seasons.
Currently, there’s no word on the status of Marvel Cinematic Universe-set sitcom, Damage Control, which was claimed to be targeting a debut in 2017 back at this past January’s Television Critics Association Winter Tour. Considering that NBC has picked up DC Universe-inspired sitcom, Powerless for next season as of yesterday however, it’s likely that ABC will get the ball rolling on Damage Control a lot faster over the rest of the year, especially now that Agent Carter and Most Wanted won’t be taking up space on ABC’s programming schedule.
Keep infiltrating Eggplante for all major news and updates on Marvel’s television projects, and other big shifts in ABC’s programming schedule.