Now that Hulu is expanding its relationship with Marvel could that lead to the streamer reviving live-action series like “Daredevil” and “Luke Cage” that have been canceled by Netflix?
Craig Erwich, the streamer’s senior vice president of originals, told TheWrap that Hulu remains open for business with Marvel, and that includes any title under the comic book powerhouse. “Marvel has a ton of titles we’d be interested in,” he said, when asked by TheWrap if Hulu would have interest in reviving one of those series.
“It kind of just depends on when they’re ready, [and] who, most importantly, is going to be behind these things.”
In the last year, Netflix has canceled three of its Marvel TV series — “Daredevil,” “Iron Fist” and “Luke Cage.” The second season of “The Punisher” debuted in January, leaving only the third season of “Jessica Jones” left. This also comes as Marvel TV’s big-screen counterparts, Marvel Studios, are also developing multiple TV series for Disney+ that will star characters from the films including Loki, Vision, Scarlet Witch, Falcon and The Winter Soldier.
Hulu is also about to 60 percent owned by Marvel’s parent company Disney, after the close of its acquisition of 21st Century Fox’s film and TV assets. On Monday, Hulu expanded its relationship with Marvel, signing a hefty deal for multiple animated series, including “Howard the Duck.”
The agreement will see Marvel TV produce four adult animated series — “Howard the Duck,” “M.O.D.O.K..” “Hit-Monkey” and “Tigra & Dazzler” — that will culminate in a crossover special, “The Offenders.” The four series are being written and executive produced by the likes of Patton Oswalt, Kevin Smith, Chelsea Handler, and the “Blades of Glory” directing team of Josh Gordon and Will Speck.
“We’ve had a relationship with Marvel since ‘Runaways,’ we’re getting into business on these animated shows,” he continued. “I’m sure it will lead to — you know, business gets you business — we have a good creative relationship with them. That’s where opportunities tend to arise.”
The deal with Hulu is very similar to the one Marvel TV signed with Netflix back in 2015, in which the studio was to produce four live-action series that also culminated with a team-up special. Erwich said that, though the deal may look similar, they weren’t trying to copy what Marvel and Netflix did.
“Given the lead time in animation, if we want to have a regular cadence of this programming and this kind of conversation that we think it’s going to provide, you have to just start early and commit to a bunch,” he added. “It’s hard to pull it off on a one-off basis.”