Netflix's decision to cancel Daredevil shocked plenty of folks. The streaming giant's flagship superhero show always seemed safe, even after the cancellations of two of its fellow Marvel series. The news was unexpected even to folks behind the scenes, as the showrunner had already pitched Season 4 and a writer believed Daredevil was too big to be cancelled. Well, according a new report, all signs should have pointed toward the show being too big to warrant cancellation. Daredevil has been listed as one of Netflix's Top 5 most popular shows.
Data gathered by demand measurement platform Parrot Analytics indicates that Daredevil was ranked fourth in the Top 5 most popular shows on Netflix as recently as last week, which saw the news of the cancellation break. The data calculated is "demand expressions," which is a global metric standard used by Parrot Analytics to represent the total audience demand being expressed for a title with in a market.
For Daredevil, the average demand expressions total was 29,965,918, which placed it fourth in Netflix's Top 5 as well as fourth in the top ten for all in-demand digital original series. On the Netflix front, it falls behind only Narcos, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, and Stranger Things. Confirmation that there would be no new Daredevil episodes after the Season 3 finale hasn't discouraged people from checking out the series.
Will Netflix come to regret the decision to boot the Devil of Hell's Kitchen from its lineup? It's worth noting, of course, that Netflix undoubtedly has its own data that it's keeping behind closed doors, but the demand expressions total is certainly worth pondering.
The streaming service does have at least two more seasons of Marvel TV on the way, so it's not entirely out of superhero series just yet. The third season of Jessica Jones and the second season of The Punisher were already in production when Netflix began cancelling its Marvel series. Between those two shows actively working on new seasons and Netflix boss Ted Sarandos' comments, they at least felt safe.
Now? Well, it may be best to watch what's coming with the next seasons of Jessica Jones and The Punisher without setting your heart on more episodes afterward. If Daredevil could be cancelled after both Iron Fist and Luke Cage were axed, then surely both of Daredevil's two most direct spinoffs are likely candidates for the chopping block as well.
At this point, we should really cross our fingers and hope that the characters find a second life somewhere other than Netflix. The Disney+ streaming service is an obvious candidate, and signs do point toward plans in place for the Daredevil character remaining in pop culture, but are those plans for Charlie Cox's Daredevil? Are we in for another reboot?
Only time will tell. For now, you can always go back and rewatch the first three seasons of Daredevil on Netflix. The good news is that the third and now final season of the show didn't end on a ginormous cliffhanger, so we don't have to worry about any huge questions that will never be answered. For more of what you can watch on Netflix before the year is up, swing by our 2018 Netflix premiere guide.
