Prior to 2021, Matt Lanter certainly wasn’t any stranger to the world of superheroes, having voiced Aquaman in the DC Animated Original Movie Universe continuity and played a variety of characters in Ultimate Spider-Man. Last year, though, he got to jump into live-action superheroics by playing George Hutchence, a.k.a. Skyfox, in the small-screen adaptation of Mark Millar and Frank Quitely’s Image Comics series Jupiter’s Legacy. Unfortunately for him and the rest of the Netflix series’ cast and crew, the streaming service cancelled it after just one season, and while speaking with CinemaBlend, Lanter reflected on what a “big bummer” this was and how long he’d expected Jupiter’s Legacy to last.
Another superhero media credit on Matt Lanter’s resume is the DC showcase short Blue Beetle, which was originally attached to last year’s Batman: The Long Halloween — Part 2, and is now being included in the DC Showcase — Constantine: The House of Mystery compilation, alongside the title extended short, Kamandi: The Last Boy on Earth! and The Losers. Between Blue Beetle’s original release and Jupiter’s Legacy coming out for Netflix subscribers in May 2021, Lanter was covered on two superhero fronts last year. When I asked him how that felt while speaking to him about his work on Blue Beetle, he said the following about Jupiter’s Legacy’s cancelation:
You know, Jupiter’s Legacy, it’s a shame. It’s a big bummer. It’s not something we expected. Honestly, I thought I was going to be doing that for probably the next 10 years of my life the way they shoot the seasons and put them together. I was thinking we were gonna see four-five seasons of Jupiter’s Legacy. I’m glad we got one season of it out there, it’s a high quality, pretty amazing superhero show. As far as the story goes, it’s a shame. At the end of Season 1 there, you can tell we were just about to explode the whole thing and really dive into the story. People have shared the same sentiment with me. Matter of fact, I just did a Comic-Con in Kansas City this past weekend, and a lot of people were talking to me about Jupiter’s Legacy and how they loved it, and I did to. Gosh, there’s so much story there in the comics, it’s right there just waiting to be told. I don’t know, I’m just bummed out about that one. I really loved that character, he was such an interesting character, and I was excited to get to play him for a while. It just didn’t happen, I guess that’s the business part of show business. I don’t know everything that happened behind the scenes. Again, it’s a shame, but you move on.
Jupiter’s Legacy premiered all of its episodes on May 7, 2021, and while superhero series earned mixed critical reaction, it scored a lot of views during its first few weeks of availability. However, by the beginning of June, Netflix decided to cancel the series, with budget issues and the showrunner being replaced halfway through production reportedly being some of the factors that influenced this decision. Matt Lanter’s thoughts on what went down echo his costar Josh Duhamel’s, who told CinemaBlend just a few weeks after Jupiter’s Legacy was canceled that it was disappointing. However, Duhamel didn’t see the show going past “two or three seasons,” in contrast to Lanter’s expectation of five-seasons.
Like his comic book counterpart, Matt Lanter’s version of George Hutchence/Skyfox was a founding member of the superhero team known as The Union, alongside The Utopian, Brainwave, Lady Liberty, Blue-Bolt and The Flare. However, he eventually left The Union after breaking its code and disappeared for decades. Jupiter’s Legacy left various plot threads left unresolved in its eight and final episode, and as Lanter made clear, he and his fellow castmates were ready to spend many more years on this show. Sadly, that’s not the way things played out, but Lanter is nonetheless thankful for the time he did get to spend on Jupiter’s Legacy.
Although Jupiter’s Legacy is no more, the universe it exists in isn’t gone, as Netflix ordered the live-action spinoff Super-Crooks (not to be confused with the same-named anime adaptation) at the same time Jupiter’s Legacy was cancelled. We haven’t gotten any major updates on Super-Crooks lately, but if Netflix is still going through with it, then maybe that could provide a platform for Matt Lanter or one of the other lead actors from Jupiter’s Legacy to reprise their roles. For now though, if you want to hear Lanter voice Blue Beetle, be sure to pick up the DC Showcase — Constantine: The House of Mystery compilation from Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on Blu-ray or 4K on Tuesday, May 3.
