Netflix Expected to Renew 'Marvel's Luke Cage' for Season 3

Netflix is reportedly expected to renew Marvel's Luke Cage for a third season soon.

On Friday, Deadline reported that Netflix is expected to give Luke Cage season three the green light "any day now."

Luke Cage's second season was released back in June, but Netflix still has not formally renewed it. During the Television Critics Association Press Tour in July, Netflix Vice President of Original Content Cindy Holland told Deadline the streamer had not "made any firm decisions yet," even though the writers' room was reportedly working on a new season already.

The news of Luke Cage continuing comes while the Marvel-Netflix partnership is in a state of flux as Disney prepares to launch its own streaming service. On Friday, Netflix cancelled Iron Fist a month after its second season was released. The Punisher's second season is still in development and Daredevil's third season debuts on Friday, Oct. 19. A third season of Jessica Jones is also in the works. Since Daredevil season three has already earned rave reviews, a fourth season order is expected.

These shows were all produced under a 2013 deal Disney signed with Netflix to produce original Marvel content. The project launched with Daredevil in 2015, followed by Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, Iron Fist and the team-up miniseries The Defenders. The Punisher also spun-out of Daredevil for his own series.

Luke Cage stars Mike Coulter as the title hero, a man with bullet-proof skin who protects the streets of Harlem. Season two ended with a cliffhanger, and Coulter recently confirmed that showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker is writing a third season.

"I think the plan for Season 3 is to explore Luke's ability to govern and be fair. At the end [of Season Two], we talk about there being a new sheriff in town, a new king in Harlem," Coulter said at the Baltimore Comic Con last month. "We're going to see how he deals with this power, because we know absolute power can corrupt absolutely. And sometimes when you don't have someone checking you, someone to put you in place, someone to tell you 'you can't do that,' we sometimes get out of control. We see that everywhere."

Coulter also teased a potential spin-off series, but said the top priority is to finish the story centering on his character first.

"I think [Luke] thinks he can be a part of it but not be in it. I think he thinks he can control it but not get his hands dirty," Coulter explained. "We're going to find out. I think by the end of Season 3, what we wanna do is set Luke Cage up so we can go forward for another series, or maybe do some other things and spinoff. But ultimately, we want to complete at least one story arc, and then see what happens after that."

The first Marvel series for Disney's own streaming service is expected to feature characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, particularly Tom Hiddleston's Loki and Elizabeth Olsen's Scarlet Witch. The streaming platform will also be home to the first-ever live action Star Wars series.

Photo credit: Netflix