Wonder Man was renewed for a second season last month, with Yahya Abdul-Mateen II and Ben Kingsley set to return as Simon Williams and Trevor Slattery, respectively. Few Marvel shows actually get a second season, and Abdul-Mateen II shared his thoughts about returning while chatting with ScreenRant.
“Yeah, this one was special,” he said. “I usually distance myself from the work after it comes out, and distance myself from the conversation and things like that. I think that’s just my healthy way of interacting with this feedback loop. But Wonder Man was a bit different, because it was so special for creatives, for artists, for people with dreams. So, I really did enjoy participating, sort of peripherally, with the conversation about the show, and it touched a lot of people, and that was something that I was really, really proud to be a part of. So I am happy that we got a season 2, and thank you. I’m happy that we got a season 2, and I’m excited to share what we got in store.“
Wonder Man was a hit, receiving rave reviews and racking up 618 million minutes of viewing time in its first week of release. However, it didn’t seem to be for everyone, as our own Alex Maidy found it to be one of the worst MCU projects he’d seen.
“Because this series avoids feeling like a Marvel Studios production and focuses on a secondary character and tangential lore in the MCU, it ends up wasting a promising concept with a boring series that fails to be an effective satire and even less effective comedy,” he wrote. “I finished Wonder Man, wondering why I spent a full season with nothing to show for it. Wonder Man wastes the great Ben Kingsley and the incredibly talented Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in a lethargic, unengaging series. Easily the worst entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date.” You can check out the rest of his review right here.
Most live-action series set within the Marvel Cinematic Universe don’t tend to last beyond a single season. There are a few exceptions—Loki earned a second season, and Daredevil: Born Again has already returned, with another season set to hit Disney+ tomorrow and a third in development—but they’re rare. To be fair, WandaVision does function as the first chapter in a loose trilogy alongside Agatha All Along and the upcoming Vision Quest. Still, by and large, Marvel’s Disney+ slate has been defined by one-and-done shows.