Netflix’s Marvel Series ‘The Defenders’ May Not Return for Season 2

Netflix may be pulling the plug on its Marvel series The Defenders or at least putting it on an extended hiatus.

A combination of events in recent weeks are leading many to believe Netflix does not intend to greenlight a second season of the crossover show, which featured characters from Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage and Iron Fist.

As ComicBook.com points out, the streaming service transformed the Facebook and Twitter pages for the show to the title of “NX” earlier in September. NX is a new marketing arm for Netflix, aimed to promote the service’s sci-fi offerings. The accounts have been promoting titles like Maniac and the upcoming Avatar: The Last Airbender reboot as opposed to its Marvel superhero offerings.

This change alarmed fans, with many assuming the worst.

“So apparently Netflix renamed their Defenders Facebook page as ‘NX’ which is to promote their sci-fi shows and movies… so I guess we can’t expect Defenders season 2 anytime soon,” one fan wrote. “Not shocking, but disappointing.”

Another fan added, “Looks like Netflix gave The Defenders the ax and hijacked all of their followers for their new page? Crap move, [in my opinion].”

To follow this rebranding up, comments from Jeph Loeb, the head of Marvel’s TV division, caused even more uncertainty for the crossover show’s future. He told Entertainment Weekly that there are “no plans right now” for a second season, but he is open to revisiting the Defenders concept again, possibly with new heroes.

“No, all we’ve ever said is that there are no plans right now [to do more],” Loeb said. “It doesn’t mean that it’s off the table. And it doesn’t mean that it even has to be with the original characters that were in the first Defenders.

He added, “There are lots of Avengers, and through that, you should be able to ascertain that there may be lots of Defenders. No one at any time referred to them as ‘The Defenders’ — they didn’t wear a little ‘D’ on their belts, and they didn’t go to a building that had a big ‘Defenders’ [sign] in the air. They were four mismatched heroes who were joined by a lot of the other heroes that are in the stories that we do on Netflix, but that was that particular story.”

Netflix has not issued an official word of The Defenders‘ fate as of press time.

Photo Credit: Netflix