Say It Ain’t So: ABC Cancelled Agent Carter Without Discussion With Marvel

This past season of Agent Carter turned out to be our last romp through the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent’s life, and while it certainly felt like a pretty solid ending for Peggy Carter, more than a few folks felt that they wanted to spend a little more time with her. Apparently, according to a conversation between Head of Marvel Television Jeph Loeb and Business Insider, Loeb never really had a chance to discuss a potential future for Agent Carter on ABC. “There were no conversations. We had a call from the network. The network said they were cancelling the show.”

It sucks to think that the show was just summarily cancelled without even being offered a chance at a discussion with the folks at Marvel. While it’s true that ratings took a bit of a dip in the latest season, the fandom surrounding the show remained as dedicated as ever. That being said, I can easily imagine that this kind of thing happens a lot to shows; they’re there one day, and gone the next, with nary an explanation offered to the production team. The fact that it happened to a Marvel show makes it somewhat of an interesting anomaly, but I guess in the end, even “Marvel Armor” doesn’t exactly save one from the cancellation ray.

But! Since this is a show based on the comics, and because Marvel can’t seem to ever really let go of characters for too long, Loeb expressed some hope in Peggy’s return. He said, “Let me just put it this way: I watched The Avengers. Phil Coulson died. His story was done. We’re about to go into the fourth season [of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.], and he’s standing right over there. So I like to think that anything is possible. And that’s one of the reasons why I enjoy my job so much.”

At least we know that Hayley Atwell is totally on board for another season. Netflix has already passed on the series, so we won’t be seeing her name alongside the other Netflix Marvel greats like Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Daredevil, or Iron Fist. As our own Carolyn Cox wrote back when renewal hopes for both Agent Carter and Supergirl were high, “There are a lot of male-lead or ensemble superhero shows out there, but still so few female-lead comic show on TV that cancelling either Supergirl or Agent Carter would leave a huge dent in the viewing options for comic fans who want to watch a woman kick butt (or punch face, as is more often the case with Peggy).”

The world certainly could use Peggy Carter, that’s for darn sure. Even though we all knew from the beginning that Agent Carter would be a limited-run series, we can only hope that she can find her way back to television—or, perhaps, another medium entirely. #sixseasonsandamovie, anyone?

(via CBR)

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