Netflix’s Expensive ‘Jupiter’s Legacy’ Series Has Been Canceled After One Season
After just a single season debuted on Netflix back at the beginning of May,Mark Millar’s comic book superhero seriesJupiter’s LegacystarringJosh DuhamelandLeslie Bibbwill not be returning for more. Though the word “canceled” hasn’t officially been used, all of theJupiter’s Legacycast members are being let out of their contractual commitments to return for more episodes. That means the show is pretty much done at Netflix, but Mark Millar doesn’t seem so comfortable putting such a period on it. It sounds like his next show on the streaming service will actually expand the universe thatJupiter’s Legacyestablished.
Here’s what Mark Millar said in a statement heposted to Twitteron Wednesday:
“Jupiter’s Legacyis a vast and rich space with lots of characters to mine, and so I’m happy to share that our next step here is a live-action version of theSupercrookscomic I created with Leinil Francis Yu a few years back. Given where we’re going next, we’ve made the tough call of letting our incredible cast out of their show commitment as we continue to thoughtfully develop all realms of theJupiter’s Legacysaga. We’re confident we’ll return to it later and just want to say thanks to you guys for your continued support and to the cast and crew who made this look so great.”
If you haven’t heard ofSupercrooksuntil now, the series follows “a ragtag gang of supervillains, con artists, petty thieves and leg-breakers who band together for the heist of the century and the most outrageous crime story you’ve ever seen in your life.” The super villains of this new series will “have the time of their lives and make a little dirty money while they’re doing it.”
The synopsis also mentions, “If the superheroes get in the way, they’re going to be spitting teeth.” But withJupiter’s Legacyessentially canceled, does that mean there will be some new superheroes introduced? If so, will there be any mention of the characters audiences met inJupiter’s Legacy? That feels like a necessity if Mark Millar intends to return to that story in the future, especially since the first season ended with a huge reveal and a massive cliffhanger (which we won’t spoil if you still plan to catch up with the show).
Millar saying he’s confident they’ll “return to it later” seems like more of a hope than a guarantee.Jupiter’s Legacywas meant to kick-off a multi-season series, and there was a new comic book coming that would expand the story as well. Perhaps ifSupercrooksis a success, there’s a chance that some kind of proper crossover would allow the characters ofJupiter’s Legacyto return. But even thoughSupercrookstakes place in the same universe asJupiter’s Legacy, I can’t imagine Netflix will be eager to publicize that if they’re abandoning the series for now. Even so,Supercrooksalready has a full season order.
For Millar’s part, he’s proudly pivoting over toSupercrooks, saying:
“I’ve always loved crime stories, from Scorsese to Tarantino, and supervillains are always the most fun part of any superhero story. To do something exclusively focused on the villains they fight just feels incredibly fresh as we explore what it’s like to be a bad guy in a world crawling with good guys who want to put you in jail.”
Let’s just hope it’s better thanJupiter’s Legacy, whichreportedly cost $200 millionfor this first season alone. If not, then Mark Millar may only have one more shot before he strikes out with Netflix, because an adaptation of his comicThe Magic Orderis now back in development after being creatively retooled last year. But it doesn’t sound like that’s off to a promising start, and we’re not sure if James Wanis still on board to directthe pilot. Stay tuned.
