Marvel and Netflix cancelled Iron Fist Friday after two seasons, inspiring mixed reactions from Marvel Cinematic Universe viewers.
"Marvel's Iron Fist will not return for a third season on Netflix," production partners Disney and Netflix said in a joint statement.
"Everyone at Marvel Television and Netflix is proud of the series and grateful for all of the hard work from our incredible cast, crew and showrunners ... We're thankful to the fans who have watched these two seasons, and for the partnership we've shared on this series. While the series on Netflix has ended, the immortal Iron Fist will live on."
The series centered around martial artist Danny Rand (Finn Jones), who emerged as the immortal Iron Fist, protector of K'un-Lun, sworn enemy of the Hand, who used his super-powered fist to combat ninjas and other threats to New York City.
The fourth series birthed out of the Marvel-Netflix partnership that first launched Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage before bringing the four heroes together in limited-series The Defenders, Iron Fist has long been one of the warmer-received series out of the TV-MA corner of the MCU: its first season earned a 19% rotten from critics on Rotten Tomatoes — the second lowest of any MCU production, behind only Inhumans' 12% — and a 74% "liked it" score from audiences.
Its sophomore season fared better, earning the biggest sophomore bump at Rotten Tomatoes and pulling in a still-rotten 53% critics rating and a 73% "liked it" score.
The Iron Fist cancellation is the latest move from Netflix to draw the ire of fans: some viewers were left furious last month after Netflix nixed social media pages for The Defenders, signaling its apparent cancellation.
The move could be drawn from Disney's intention to populate its own streaming service with its MCU characters, as the studio is eyeing its own big-budget television series for Loki (Tom Hiddleston) and Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen). That service, Disney Play, launches next year and will be "the biggest priority of the company" in 2019, said Disney CEO Bob Iger.