With Iron Fist, Luke Cage, and Daredevil all getting the axe in quick succession last year, it’s felt pretty much inevitable in these last few months that The Punisher and Jessica Jones would soon get the same treatment, and sure enough, Deadline now reports that the last of the Marvel/Netflix shows have officially been canceled.
The news comes to us exactly one month after the release of the second season of The Punisher, with Netflix confirming in a statement to Deadline that the Jon Bernthal-led show “will not return for a third season” on the platform. The statement goes on to add, “in reviewing our Marvel programming, we have decided that the upcoming third season will also be the final season for Marvel’s Jessica Jones.”
Of course, anyone who’s been keeping track of what’s been happening to Marvel’s various Netflix shows was likely bracing themselves for each of these announcements. Even Bernthal himself mentioned last month that he was “at peace” with The Punisher‘s likely cancelation, while many of the show’s fans were practically mourning the death of the series before the second season even came out.
If there’s anything surprising about this latest news, it’s that Netflix dropped the axe on Jessica Jones before the show’s third season had even come out, breaking from the platform’s recent pattern of waiting a few weeks after the final batch of episodes has premiered before making the announcement. In a way, it’s nice to see Netflix be so transparent on the matter this time round, though the advanced notice ensures that the final season of Krysten Ritter’s series will make for some bittersweet viewing.
What happens after Jessica’s story draws to a close remains to be seen, but when it comes to the future of the Marvel/Netflix heroes, the ball is now very much in Disney’s court.