Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is the longest-running
MCU-affiliated TV series still on the air.
But as we enter phase 4 of the MCU, S.H.I.E.L.D.
is going to conclude with its seventh season.
Here's why the end is coming.
No one on a TV show's production team likes
to discover that their work is ending, but
it's a rare blessing when they get to plan
ahead of time and tie off loose ends in a
satisfying way.
Such is the case for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Production staff voluntarily decided to cut
it off at season seven, after ABC preemptively
renewed the series before season six had even
finished airing.
When Deadline asked Marvel TV head Jeph Loeb
why it was coming to a close, he replied,
"The simplest answer is so that we can end
on our terms, really."
He also described this pre-planned funeral
as a, quote, "celebration," although that
description might ring a little hollow to
some.
Maybe it's really just an expression of stiff-upper-lip
bravery in the face of a new era in the MCU.
"Do I have time for a boba break?"
"I don't know, man."
Marvel TV used to be a separate but commercially-joined
division within Marvel Entertainment, the
company that previously owned all the comic
intellectual property from which the MCU makes
its billions.
However, Marvel Entertainment's acquisition
by Disney and its subsequent restructuring
in 2015 appear to have left Marvel TV in the
dust.
After all, it's still under the jurisdiction
of Marvel Entertainment's Ike Perlmutter,
not Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige.
Marvel Entertainment and Marvel Studios had
a parting of the ways, so while Perlmutter
and Marvel Entertainment got the TV shows,
Feige and Marvel Studios got complete creative
control over the films, and that's changed
just about everything.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is now its own
thing unto itself, and with Marvel Studios'
separation from Marvel Entertainment, it appears
more and more that the TV division that had
once been so ambitious is slowly being left
behind and, ultimately, replaced.
Marvel TV does have a whole slate of its own
programming set to expand on Hulu over the
next year, so the division itself is not about
to die completely.
But Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
feels more like a throwback to the way things
used to be and emblematic of Marvel TV as
a whole, tethered to but ignored by its big
brother, Marvel Studios.
While shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. were
produced by Marvel Television separately from
Marvel Studios, it looks like Marvel Studios
has now decided to get into the TV game as
well.
Kevin Feige recently announced that in Phase
4 of the MCU, there will be a whole new slate
of TV shows released on Disney+.
And this move is putting Marvel Television
in quite a bind.
After all, the Marvel Studios shows on Disney+
are going to be more like smaller-scale films,
complete with that bottomless Disney budget
and major stars like Paul Bettany and Elizabeth
Olsen.
Plus, they're based on super successful movies,
so it makes sense that Disney would want to
emphasize these prestige projects over less-buzzy
series like S.H.I.E.L.D.
And really, it's no coincidence that other
series such as Luke Cage and Legion have also
been cancelled around the same time as S.H.I.E.L.D.
"They'll be gone soon enough."
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. started off with strong
Nielsen ratings when it debuted in 2013, but
they quickly fell off.
Ever since then, it hasn't done particularly
well as far as traditional live audiences
go.
It's always performed better in later DVR
viewing, but that doesn't necessarily keep
a production afloat.
Those declining viewership numbers can be
partly blamed on lost interest over time,
as well as on the questionable move in the
fifth season from Tuesday to Friday, quite
possibly the worst night to be on when you
want to be must-see TV.
Despite these challenges, S.H.I.E.L.D. is
nonetheless generally well-regarded by its
remaining viewers who do tune in.
"Didn't know you liked that."
"Didn't know you'd do that."
Nevertheless, the show's loyal fanbase refuses
to be deterred by critical and corporate naysaying.
It might be smaller than your average fandom,
but S.H.I.E.L.D.'s supporters make themselves
known by consistently tweeting their reactions.
And there's no doubt they'll continue watching
old episodes and crafting their own fan fiction
adventures for the team even after the show
ends its run.
Joss Whedon is one of the original creators
of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and he's still
credited as an executive producer.
The show began in 2013 in the wake of the
huge success of The Avengers the previous
year, and back then, Whedon was more than
just the director of that film.
He was the creative helmsman tasked with keeping
the MCU together.
That began to change in 2015 after his struggle
with making Avengers: Age of Ultron and his
subsequent fallout with Marvel Studios brass.
Enter the Russo brothers, who eventually took
over Whedon's place as go-to Avengers directors.
In the end, it seems that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
will be a fatality of all this change and
shifting corporate priority.
It's the last bastion of an eroded master
plan abandoned by its author.
That's not the show's fault, but now that
the Whedon era is long over, S.H.I.E.L.D.
is finally being left behind.
Despite all these struggles and the looming
end, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s creative staff
and fans alike can be satisfied and proud
as the show comes to a close, even if it brings
sorrow.
Not every TV show gets to enjoy seven seasons,
after all.
Its greatest achievement might just be that
it made a real go of weaving together a whole
universe for regular people existing within
the MCU.
The creators never received much more information
about the films than audiences did, but they
still managed to spin plenty of golden storylines.
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