Wonder Man, the Disney+ series starring Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Ben Kingsley, has been cancelled, despite the streaming service picking up a second season of the show.
The Marvel programme, which The Hollywood Reporter says drew 618 million minutes’ worth of watch time in its opening week, also landed an Emmy nomination for Yahya Abdul-Mateen II this year.
Disney+ didn’t release viewing figures for the show. But we do know that it cracked the Nielsen top 10 viewing charts during its first seven days, falling away from its number eight spot the week after.
Wonder Man, which has an impressive 91% Tomatometer score on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, had been renewed for another season in March of this year.
This is rare for Disney+. Only two live-action Marvel series – Loki and Daredevil: Born Again – have gotten more than one season.
Meanwhile, other members of this group, including WandaVision, The Falcon And The Winter Soldier, and Hawkeye, have remained single-season shows.
Allegedly, the writer’s room for season two of Wonder Man never officially opened.
An unnamed insider also suggested to Varietythat the show’s characters might appear in other Marvel projects in the future.
The show’s star, Yahya Abdul Mateen II, has since reacted to the news on Instagram.
His full post reads: “Word just dropped that Wonder Man won’t be coming back for Season 2. (And if you don’t knowww, now ya knoww!) That’s life, right? Everything will shake out. I wanted to say thank you to everybody who WATCHED the show, ENJOYED the show, and SHARED that they enjoyed the show in some way or other.
“The show worked. And that’s my favorite thing about it. I could see it on the faces of the Youtube Reactors (because I watched along with y’all this time. Shoutout to y’all) and I can see in the messages I get saying how the show reminded some of you not to give up, and I feel it in the genuine love shared when I bump into some of you all during the day.
“So, thinking of you all today. I’m glad we got to be a part of something cool. Thank you for watching… And uhh… See you at the EMMYS.”
Who knows… we may see his character in future Marvel works, too.
