ABC has handed out an early renewal to “Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.,” picking up the series for a seventh season, the network announced on Friday.
The news comes months ahead of the drama’s sixth outing, which was pushed to Summer 2019 earlier this year. At the time, it caused some speculation about the aging show’s future, but the network insisted the move did not reflect a lack of confidence in the show or portend an imminent cancellation.
“By putting it in the summer, we feel like we’re going to be able to super-serve the fanbase that loves that show, and hopefully give it an opportunity to continue on longer than it would if it lived in season,” ABC Entertainment president Channing Dungey told reporters earlier this year when the news was first announced, adding that she believed the most recent season to be the show’s “creatively strongest yet.”
The renewal keeps “S.H.I.E.L.D.” on as ABC’s last remaining show from Marvel Television following the cancellation of “Inhumans” last season. Elsewhere, Marvel has “The Gifted” at Fox, “Legion” at FX, “Runaways” at Hulu and “Cloak & Dagger” at Freeform.
Netflix, meanwhile, has started to cull its Marvel series offerings in anticipation of Disney’s new streaming efforts, cancelling both “Iron Fist” and “Luke Cage,” leaving just “Jessica Jones,” “Daredevil” and “The Punisher” in its “Defenders” franchise.
Marvel Studios is expected to begin development on a number of “Avengers” spin-off projects for the recently announced Disney+, including standalone limited series centered on Tom Hiddleston’s Loki and Anthony Mackie’s Falcon.
“Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.” stars Ming-Na Wen, Chloe Bennet, Iain De Caestecker, Elizabeth Henstridge, Henry Simmons, Natalia Cordova-Buckley and Jeff Ward. The series was co-created by Joss Whedon, Jed Whedon & Maurissa Tancharoen, who also serve as executive producers along with Jeffrey Bell and Jeph Loeb. It is produced by ABC Studios and Marvel Television for ABC.