Filipino fans are among those sorry to see the end of Netflix’s “Daredevil” after the streaming service announced the series’ cancellation after just three seasons.
Netflix in a statement to Hollywood-based media outlets on Friday confirmed that the live-action adaptation of Marvel Comics’ blind lawyer Matt Murdock, who moonlights as the titular masked hero, would not be returning for a fourth season.
In the statement, Netflix thanked the cast of the show and its producers and crew for helping the critically-acclaimed series come to life.
“We are tremendously proud of the show’s last and final season and although it’s painful for the fans, we feel it best to close this chapter on a high note,” the statement read. The show’s third season which premiered earlier in 2018 received rave reviews from critics.
The disappointment can be heard all the way from the Philippines.
Not yet the end?
“Daredevil” premiered in 2015 starring Charlie Cox Matthew Murdock a.k.a Daredevil. Its lauded cast included Deborah Ann Woll as love interest Karen Page, Elden Henson as Murdock’s law partner Foggy Nelson, Vincent D’ Onofrio as archnemesis Wilson Fisk a.k.a Kingpin and John Bernthal, who joined the cast in the show’s second season to play the role of Marvel’s gun-toting vigilante hero the Punisher. His acclaimed performance pushed Marvel and Netflix to produce a series focusing on the Punisher.
It was praised for its intense action scenes, fight choreography, powerful acting and resonating storylines that were faithful to the Daredevil comics’ most treasured story arcs. Its fight sequences were compared to those in classic action flicks such as “Oldboy,” “The Raid” and “John Wick.”
The show received numerous awards and nominations in production as well as its cast’s performances.
It was the first of a series of shows centered around “street-based” Marvel heroes that fought criminal elements in a gritty, urban setting. Marvel’s “Jessica Jones,” “Luke Cage,” “Iron Fist,” “The Defenders” and “The Punisher” followed in the wake of Daredevil’s success.
Netflix in October 2018 cancelled “Luke Cage” and “Iron Fist.” Fans initially speculated that the move was to make way for an adaptation of “Heroes for Hire,” a series about the super-team the heroes belonged to in the comics.
Netflix clarified that the series’ first three seasons will still be available for streaming on the platform and that Daredevil will “live on” in other Marvel projects.
“Jessica Jones” and “The Punisher,” the two surviving projects, are still slated to premiere new seasons in 2019.
There has been speculation that the cancellation was only to allow Daredevil to migrate to a new streaming service. Disney, Marvel’s parent company, in August 2018 announced that it would not renew its streaming deal with Netflix and that it would be focusing on its own streaming service.
The movies and shows in Disney’s “Star Wars” franchise are among those confirmed to air on the new streaming service.