Jeph Loeb Reveals Why The Defenders Is Just A Miniseries

In just under a month, fans of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be treated to their very first Netflix team-up between the characters found in four different shows exclusive to the streaming service — Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist.

There are currently five seasons between those four shows, Daredevil currently has two seasons while the other three have just one. Each of those five seasons is a solid 13 episodes long.

When the four street-level characters go to team up in The Defenders, however, viewers might notice that the first season will only include eight episodes.

“It was always eight [episodes]. It had to do with what was the best way to tell the story,” Loeb told Collider in a post-panel interview. “Our feeling was it broke really nicely and when you watch the show you sort of see ‘Okay, well that’s act one and that’s act two and that’s act three.’”

Loeb then dove into explaining his thought process behind being able to make sure the four main characters of the show would get the adequate storylines they deserved.

“You have to remember when you have that many characters you want to be able to service them but you also don’t want to overload the audience,” explained Loeb. “You want to be able to tell a story that’s compelling and will go along and if finish the eight and wished it was the thirteen, good on us.”

The Defenders stars Charlie Cox (Daredevil/Matt Murdock), Krysten Ritter (Jessica Jones), Mike Colter (Luke Cage), Finn Jones (Iron Fist), Jessica Henwick (Colleen Wing), Rosario Dawson (Claire Temple), Sigourney Weaver (Alexandra), Elodie Yung (Elektra Natchios), Babs Olusanmokun (Sowande), Elden Henson (Foggy Nelson), Simone Missick (Misty Knight), Rachel Taylor (Trish Walker), Scott Glenn (Stick), Eka Darville (Malcolm Ducasse), Debbi Morgan (Delores), Carrie-Anne Moss (Jeri Hogarth), and Deborah Ann Woll (Karen Page).

Daredevil seasons 1 and 2, Jessica Jones season 1, Luke Cage season 1, and Iron Fist season 1 are all available on Netflix now, while The Defenders is expected later in the year. The Punisher does not currently have a release date. Netflix has announced a second season of Jessica Jones and a third season of Daredevil, but no release dates have been announced for those either.

MORE DEFENDERS: Defenders Teaser Gives First Look At Marvel’s The Punisher / Netflix Defenders Trailer Narrated By Stan Lee / Marvel TV Exec Explains Why Its Universe Relies On Daredevil To Work