It’s an end of an era. Marvel Television as we have been accustomed to for the last decade, will officially be no more. Its current slate has dwindled significantly in the last year and with its head, Jeph Loeb set to depart, the television-focused Marvel division will be phased out.
The current Marvel TV projects that are already in production will continue on as intended but any further development is being scrapped. The downside to a process like this is that a significant portion of the unit’s staff is being laid off. Reportedly affected by this are executives Cort Lane, Marsha Griffin, Mark Ambrose, Tom Lieber, and Aimee Carlson. Marvel TV’s SVP Current Programming and Production Karim Zreik and members of his team will join the Marvel Studios group to oversee the remaining Marvel TV shows already on the books. Zreik is said to be involved with the announced four animated series and the live-action Helstrom for Hulu and last season of ABC’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which will still be made. Other Marvel TV staffers are being reassigned.
The writing was on the wall for this when a number of animated and live-action shows were canned or shelved indefinitely. Adding to this was the exit of longtime small screen chief Loeb and the further expansion of big-screen boss Kevin Feige. Loeb will reportedly be around longer than anticipated to handle the handover, although he was originally slated to be gone by the end of the year.
New upcoming original Marvel shows on the recently launched Disney+ streaming service like WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier had already been placed under Fiege’s mandate before he was anointed Chief Creative Officer in October so a lot of the switch was already in place. The purge, however, apparently started yesterday.
