Yesterday, the news broke that Wonder Man Season 2 is no longer happening. The series has been cancelled on Disney+, though no explanation for why it's no longer moving forward has been offered.
The timing, though, is odd. It comes less than a week after Marvel Studios' Hall H panel at San Diego Comic-Con and right as Spider-Man: Brand New Day swings into theaters (that movie's director, Destin Daniel Cretton, co-created Wonder Man and helmed the first two episodes).
Praised by fans and critics alike, the series has even landed lead star Yahya Abdul-Mateen II an Emmy nomination. It's rare for any comic book adaptation to receive mainstream award attention, and the actor has now made history as the first actor nominated at the Emmys for his work in Marvel and DC (Watchmen).
Taking to Instagram, Abdul-Mateen has broken his silence on Wonder Man being scrapped. Marvel announced plans for Season 2 just a couple of months after the show debuted on streaming, and Cretton has recently said work was underway on the next batch of episodes.
"Word just dropped that Wonder Man won’t be coming back for Season 2. (And if you don’t knowww, now ya knoww! 😬) That’s life, right? Everything will shake out. I wanted to say thank you to everybody who WATCHED the show, ENJOYED the show, and SHARED that they enjoyed the show in some way or other. The show worked. And that’s my favorite thing about it."
"I could see it on the faces of the Youtube Reactors (because I watched along with y’all this time. Shoutout to y’all) and I can see in the messages I get saying how the show reminded some of you not to give up, and I feel it in the genuine love shared when I bump into some of you all during the day. So, thinking of you all today. I’m glad we got to be a part of something cool. Thank you for watching… And uhh… See you at the EMMYS."
Cretton liked Abdul-Mateen's post and shared it on Instagram with the caption, "Love this man." That's all he's said about Wonder Man's premature end thus far, and only time will tell whether we see Simon Williams and Trevor Slattery again.
It's hard to shake the feeling that Marvel Studios might be done with streaming series. Nothing has been announced beyond VisionQuest and Daredevil: Born Again Season 3, and like Star Wars, Disney might be looking to make the MCU a franchise that can only be enjoyed on the biggest screens possible moving forward.
"Yahya Abdul-Mateen II steals the show in this delightfully original two-hander about friendship, acting, and being true to yourself," we wrote in our review. "Wonder Man is the cure to superhero fatigue and the most original MCU TV series since WandaVision."
Check out Abdul-Mateen's Instagram post below.