Variety has confirmation of a shoe drop we’ve all been waiting for: Disney is making it official and Marvel Television is shutting down. Division head Jeph Loeb, already reported to be on his way out, will oversees the turning off of the lights. Family entertainment chief Cort Lane, who was the face of Marvel’s in-house animation arm, will also be departing.
The move was seen as inevitable after it was announced that Kevin Feige’s Marvel Studios would be taking over producing all the TV shows that anyone cared about, including the ones that tie-in to the MCU like WandaVision, The Falcon and the Winter Soldier and announced shows like Ms. Marvel.
Marvel Television will wind up everything currently being produced – one show basically – but there will be no further development.
According to an individual with knowledge of the situation, Marvel will eliminate a number of positions in the near future as a result of the cessation of development at the division. Karim Zreik, senior vice president of current programming and production and members of his team will now join the Marvel Studios group. Zreik will lead the current projects in production. Marvel TV head Jeph Loeb will remain with the division during the transition.
Marvel Television’s ongoing projects are winding down or going away.
• Runaways (Hulu) is ending after three seasons.
• Agents of Shield (ABC) is also wrapping up its seven year run.
• Ghost Rider (Hulu) starring Gabriel Luna had been ordered but was cancelled in September after the Feige takeover was announced.
• Four animated series – Howard the Duck, Hit Monkey, Tigra & Dazzler and M.O.D.O.K. are also in the works for Hulu, and were to cross over as “The Offenders” but Variety reports that showrunner Erica Rivinoja and writing staff of “Tigra & Dazzler” just departed over creative differences.
• What looks like the final show for Marbel Television will be Helstrom, currently in development for Hulu, with Tom Austen as Daimon Helstrom and Sydney Lemmon as sister Ana Helstrom.
More VPS and executives formerly at Marvel Television departing, Variety continues, and Brian Crosby, the creative director of Marvel Themed Entertainment, who had been involved with several Marvel projects in conjunction with the theme parks will no longerbe developing any.
Of Lane, Variety writes:
A Marvel veteran in charge of television animation, Lane has deep relationships with counterparts in Disney’s corporate-franchises, parks and consumer-products arms, as well as with licensees such as Hasbro and Lego. He is believed to be staying on through January as part of the transition, as Marvel gears up for its first major TV entry in the preschool space, “Marvel’s Spidey and His Amazing Friends.”
Reading between the lines of all this, as expected, the Marvel Television division – previously run by Marvel chairman Ike Perlmutter – is just going
and future filmed entertainment and animation for Disney+ and beyond will be firmly part of the Feige-verse.
But who will emerge as the new Loeb and Lane? Developing.
