‘Luke Cage’ Star Mike Colter on Netflix Cancellation, Show’s Future

Mike Colter wasn’t as shocked to hear his Luke Cage series was canceled by Netflix as one might suspect.

The actor who portrayed the titular Marvel Comics hero for two seasons of Luke Cage, through a handful of Jessica Jones episodes, and for a Defenders team-up season saw the red flags on the horizon when Season Two wrapped up. “It was bittersweet,” Colter tells ComicBook.com ahead of his appearance at Wizard World in New Orleans this weekend. “It kinda did catch me off guard. I don’t think I was as shocked as most people were because I was a little closer to it.”

While the team started to try and get started on a third season, Colter and company noticed some changes in the process as things slowed to a halt. “There were some things, some tell tale signs, that were not quite feeling right for me,” Colter explained. “Although we had an internal pick up, amongst a certain amount of people who were close to the project, and we were moving forward with the writing and writing the group writers room, et cetera. There was a lot of stalling. There was a lot of things that didn’t feel quite right. Then, deadlines. One deadline would come and it would go. Another deadline would come, it would go.

“There were some things that started to feel a little odd,” Colter admits. “So, when it happened, I was like, ‘Eh.’ It wasn’t that much of a shock. But yeah, still shock.”

Following the cancellation by Netflix, Luke Cage fans have poured out on social media to try and get the series — or, at least, the character — to continue in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Colter, however, calmly suggests there’s not much fans can do but seems confident there might be something waiting down the line.

“I don’t know that it’s something that fans can do, necessarily,” Colter said. “I think it’s a real network/studio thing. I think it’ll resolve itself, one way or the other. There just needs to be some time. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe that’s it. But I don’t think the fans… as much as the fans — the outpouring of the fans is very touching and well received and it’d be appreciated — I don’t think it’s gonna make anything happen, but it’s nice to know that. I think, ultimately, if it comes back, it’ll probably come back because of the fans demand for it. I don’t think that their work is going in vain. It just may not happen as soon as they want it to.”

As for what stories the team had been tossing around regarding Season Three, Colter remains tightlipped, just in case new episodes of Luke Cage eventually do come along.

Luke Cage Season Two is now streaming on Netflix.