Yesterday, we reported that Netflix is considering a Punisher spinoff series starring Jon Bernthal, whose character hasn’t even debuted yet on Daredevil Season 2 (which will launch in March). Netflix didn’t comment about that spinoff during their TCA panel today, though they did announce a second season for another Marvel property, Jessica Jones. This all adds up to a complicated dance regarding premiere dates and timelines, which Netflix’s chief content officer Ted Sarandos spoke to journalists about; EW reports that.
“Right now, these are produced at the scale of a major film, so there are long production times and long post times. In some cases, when we have character crossover, it makes it more difficult to manage production. It’s not the goal to put out more than one or two out a year.”
The “one or two a year” quote is definitely interesting, since in the past they have only committed to one a year for four years (2015 did see both Daredevil and Jessica Jones, although at opposite ends of the calendar), all of which would then culminate in a Defenders series. Luke Cage is set to come out in 2016 with Daredevil Season 2, and Iron Fist (which is still looking for its lead) is set for 2017. Sarandos continued,
“The complex one is really The Defenders,” Sarandos said. “The Defenders’ production schedule will determine a lot of the Season 2 and 3 output of those shows.”
But if Netflix is still considering spinning off more characters, things could get really complicated. The fact that Sarandos opened the door for more spinoffs, though, is very interesting:
“Any character that’s in there is on the table … It’s always possible. All the characters in the universe could also spin out.”
So far, are there any other characters that you would like to see given their own Netflix series? As we’ve seen with Daredevil and Jessica Jones, the crossover time between series is minimal (unlike the CW’s DC properties The Flash and Arrow, whose stories are very connected), so it could be possible for a character to get a short miniseries in between other series … or would that likely be too unwieldy? Let us know what you think, and we’ll also keep you up to date with any Punisher spinoff confirmations from Netflix or Marvel.
