According to a report by The Hollywood Reporter, Marvel has just canceled two overall deals with showrunners Steve Lightfoot and Paul Zbyszewski. The reason is presumably the COVID-19 outbreak which has deeply impacted the industry. Marvel has not released any public statements yet.
Lightfoot worked on the Marvel drama The Punisher. The show aired on Netflix for a couple of seasons after the character first appeared in Daredevil season 2. The streaming service canceled the series a year ago alongside many other Marvel shows after the end of a deal that initially started in 2013.
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Zbyszewski started working with Marvel on ABC’s Agents of SHIELD, where he was executive producer and co-executive producer for a couple of seasons. Recently, he served as showrunner for the upcoming Hulu live-action drama series Helstrom. According to THR, Zbyszewski will wrap up postproduction work on the show starring Tom Austen. The first season of the show will run for ten episodes.
Helstrom is one of the shows that Marvel announced last year when Jeph Loeb was still running Marvel Television. It’s the story of Daimon and Ana Helstrom, the children of a powerful serial killer. Plagued by their family background, the siblings are determined to root out demons as they arise and to rid the world of those like their father.
Since then, feature kingpin Kevin Feige took over the leadership and placed the company’s TV arm under the Marvel Studios banner. The upcoming Helstrom series is likely the last project born under Marvel Television. Given the latest reports, it is very possible that fans will see only one season of the show.
Helstrom is currently without a release date, but it might debut in late 2020 or 2021. What do you think about Marvel’s decision to terminate these contracts? Let us know in the comments section below.
