Disney+ Chairman Says It’s a “Possibility” Netflix Shows Will End up on New Service

The aftershocks of Netflix’s decision to cancel Marvel’s Daredevil along with Luke Cage and Iron Fist are still being felt as fans–and also the show’s stars–try to make sense of the development. After all, Daredevil was coming off its highly acclaimed Season 3 and still ranked as one of the most buzzed about shows on Netflix this year (especially compared to all the other Marvel/Netflix series).

Still, Netflix canceled Daredevil, and a lot of people blamed the impending arrival of Disney’s streaming service (Disney owns Marvel, BTW). A lot of people also assumed that these shows were canceled so they could jump to Disney+. Now THR has an interview with Disney+ chairman Kevin Mayer, one that sheds a little bit of light on the status of Marvel’s Netflix heroes.

When asked if he would ever consider reviving the canceled shows, Mayer answers: “They are very high-quality shows. We haven’t yet discussed that, but I would say that’s a possibility.”

And that’s it.

When I said “a little bit of light,” I meant a very, very little bit of light. The room is still basically pitch black, people.

As I’ve written about at length before, the future of all of these Marvel shows is in jeopardy because they’re caught in the middle of two massive corporations. As Netflix has grown since the Marvel deal was initially struck yeeeears ago, the streaming giant is now interested in producing and owning every single bit of their hit shows. And on the Disney+ end, they’re more concerned with making shows that star the movie actors like Elizabeth Olsen and Tom Hiddleston right now. On top of that, Marvel Television and Marvel Studios are two different entities that have kind of a tumultuous history–and right now, it looks like only Marvel Studios is making content for Disney+.

There’s also the fact that, as Variety noted last week, sources have indicated that Marvel’s original deal with Netflix gives Netflix ownership of the characters that precludes them from popping up elsewhere for at least two years after cancellation. That means even if Disney+ did want to make more Daredevil, Iron Fist, or Luke Cage, it wouldn’t arrive until late 2020 at the earliest.

Those hoping that these iterations of the characters will continue can still cling to the (very slim) chance that Disney could buy out that Netflix contract. There’s also the chance that waiting 2 years could be a good thing; it’d allow for real nostalgia to grow for all those Netflix shows and it’d allow for all the newness surrounding those Loki and Scarlet Witch shows to wear off a bit. Maybe in two years Disney+ would want to capitalize on the fond feelings for these heroes. Maybe. That’s a huge maybe.

It’s too early to tell. All we really know right now is that three of the Marvel shows are canceled, two more seasons (Jessica Jones 3 and Punisher 2) are on the way on Netflix, and Disney+ is gonna bring the big screen to the small screen in late 2019. That’s it.

Stream Daredevil on Netflix