Wonder Man’s Season 2 premiere was written — then Disney axed the show, showrunner says

Marvel can’t seem to stop wrecking their own plans at the minute. Here’s the latest: Wonder Man got renewed for a second series, everyone gears up to jump straight back in, contracts are sorted, schedules cleared, the works — and then, Disney and Marvel decide, out of nowhere, to bin it off. Not delay it, not put it on ice, but axed entirely. If you’re keeping track, that’s yet another surprise from a studio that used to announce a slate and then actually stick to it.

Wonder Man season 2 had its premiere episode fully written before Disney decided to cancel the show.

All systems go... then, not

This wasn’t one of those ‘oh well, maybe next year’ cancellations. According to co-creator and showrunner Andrew Guest, everything was set. He went on TikTok, clearly a bit gutted, to clear the air since fans were already speculating about some secret PR stunt or Marvel pivoting to a film. But no, he insisted, there’s no hidden agenda, no one’s clashing schedules, no cheeky rebrand on the horizon. Destin Daniel Cretton (who’d directed, by the way), lead Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, and Sir Ben Kingsley — all up for it, all ready to go. Writers’ room was about to kick off this month, actual filming meant to start early next year. Proper forward momentum, not just hot air.

Guest even confirmed the opening episode for Series 2 was already written, and he’d mapped out the whole arc for the new batch of episodes. But then, as he put it in his TikTok (and he sounds like he found out pretty much when we did), Disney and Marvel suddenly decided it ‘didn’t make sense’ after all, which is wild given a few months ago they’d already greenlit the series. Guest said the brass didn’t give him much in terms of explanation or numbers, just a hard no and that was that. For what it’s worth, everyone involved thought they were about to make something special — possibly even better than season one, he reckoned.

Here’s how Andrew Guest summed it up in his video: "This is not a marketing stunt. There is no movie in the works. And Destin’s schedule, and no one’s schedule, was an issue. Yahya, Destin, Sir Ben, and I all loved making this show. All felt passionately about continuing to do it and were eager to. Contracts were signed, schedules were cleared. The writer’s room was supposed to start this month. The production was supposed to begin early next year."

He also threw in a thank you to fans for fighting the show’s corner online, and nudged the Emmy voters to give an award to Yahya Abdul-Mateen II — who’s already landed a nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy for his turn as Simon Williams/Wonder Man no less. Guest clearly rates him a fair bit. For those that like getting into these industry chats, he also noted there’s a proper debate rumbling about what sorts of stories streaming platforms are interested in backing these days.

Yahya had already been buzzing

If you missed it, Abdul-Mateen II had been very public about how much he liked the show and was actually happy having conversations with fans — unusual for him, he admitted. Apparently the character and the series meant a lot to creatives and fans alike, so grabbing the series two green light made him ‘really, really proud’. He’d already started teasing how excited he was to share more. All lined up and now, thanks to a last-minute studio wobble, that’s all we’re getting.