Luke Cage Showrunner Reminds Fans of Plan to Include Prince Before His Death

Prior to its cancellation in 2019, Luke Cage was home to some of Marvel's best music. Between a score from Adrian Younge and Ali Saheed Muhammad, and a star-studded musical guest list a mile long, the Mike Colter-led series featured tracks from across the entire musical spectrum. At one point, Luke Cage showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker even planned on trying to get Prince to cameo in the show, though the iconic musician passed before Coker could officially make his pitch.

Coker took to his Twitter account Saturday night to remind fans that he tried getting Prince on the show. According to the writer, he was going to film the first two episodes of the series to show the legend. In fact, Coker says he wrote Pop's "swear jar" into the script solely to get Prince interested in the series, though the singer passed before the episodes were filmed.

The whole reason I had the Swear Jar was because I was going to show Prince the first two episodes of Luke Cage and try to book him for the finale. But he died before I had a chance to show him.

— Cheo Hodari Coker (@cheo_coker) February 28, 2021

Musicians to make cameos in the series include Raphael Saadiq, Faith Evans, Jidenna, Charles Bradley, and Sharon Jones amongst plenty of others. The series was eventually cancelled after Disney introduced Disney+ to the marketplace. At the time of its cancellation, Coker and his team were well into the development of the show's third season.

"It was crazy because we were hitting all these things that are happening in the press right now," Coker told TV Guide last year. "I can't on the record talk about what we had planned because, contractually, you know, I still don't want any Marvel assassins coming out of the woodwork to try to take me out. [Laughs] But what I can say is that we had a very good season planned, and it was one that I think would have brought Luke Cage as a character full circle."

He added, "You see people online that were like, 'Oh my god, I turned Luke into a gangster.' They wouldn't be [saying that] if they had the opportunity to see all three seasons and see the directions Luke would have gone. I was always a Luke Cage fan, but I was probably, ultimately, a Chris Claremont, Frank Miller, Wolverine, X-Men Golden Era comic book fan, you know? And it wasn't until Brian Michael Bendis rebooted Luke Cage within Jessica Jones -- that [I felt liberated to] approach established characters within the Luke Cage universe from a different perspective. …"

Both seasons of Luke Cage are now streaming on Netflix.

What other characters from Netflix's DefendersVerse would you like to see return to the MCU? Let us know your thoughts either in the comments section or by hitting our writer @AdamBarnhardt up on Twitter to chat all things MCU!

Cover photo by Richard E. Aaron/Redferns