“Wonder Man” has been canceled at Disney+, Variety has learned exclusively.
The news comes despite the fact that Disney announced a Season 2 renewal for the show back in March, roughly two months after it debuted. According to sources, a writers’ room for Season 2 was never opened and the show’s writers have been released to pursue other projects.
Yahya Abdul Mateen II and Ben Kingsley starred in the series as Simon Williams and Trevor Slattery, respectively. The Season 1 cast also included X Mayo, Demetrius Grosse, Zlatko Burić, Arian Moayed and Olivia Thirlby. It was created by Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Guest, with Cretton also directing the first two episodes. Guest served as showrunner.
“Wonder Man” debuted to strong critical acclaim upon its premiere, with the first season holding a 91% critical approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes. In her review for Variety, Alison Herman wrote, “Abdul-Mateen and Kingsley make their characters equally ridiculous and romantic, urged on by a motivation more intimate and individual than saving the world.”
Abdul-Mateen earned an Emmy nomination for outstanding lead actor in a comedy series for his work on the show, making him the only live-action actor to get an Emmy nod for both a Marvel and DC project following his win for work on HBO’s “Watchmen.”
Disney did not release any viewership data for the show, though it did make a single appearance in the Nielsen streaming top 10 charts the week of its release. The show managed to crack the number eight position on the streaming top 10 originals chart for the week of Jan. 26-Feb. 1, but fell off the chart the following week.
According to an individual with knowledge of the situation, while “Wonder Man” is not proceeding with Season 2, the characters featured in the series could still appear in other Marvel projects in the future.
The official logline stated, “Aspiring Hollywood actor Simon Williams (Abdul Mateen) is struggling to get his career off the ground. During a chance meeting with Trevor Slattery (Kingsley), an actor whose biggest roles may be well behind him, Simon learns legendary director Von Kovak (Burić) is remaking the superhero film ‘Wonder Man.’ These two actors at opposite ends of their careers doggedly pursue life-changing roles in this film as audiences get a peek behind the curtain of the entertainment industry.”
The renewal for “Wonder Man” was an anomaly for Marvel, as virtually all of the live-action series they have launched on Disney+ have been single seasons. Those include shows like “WandaVision,” “The Falcon and The Winter Soldier,” “Hawkeye,” and “Moon Knight.” “Loki” starring Tom Hiddleston did air for two seasons, while the “WandaVision” spinoff “Vision Quest” is currently in the works. “WandaVision” also spawned the spinoff “Agatha All Along” starring Kathryn Hahn. Disney+ also relaunched the Marvel-Netflix series “Daredevil” under the title “Daredevil: Born Again” in March 2025, with the second season of that show debuting on March 24. A third season is slated to debut in 2027.
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