After two seasons on Freeform, the network is pulling the plug on Cloak & Dagger. There will be no Season 3 of the series, despite the fact that stars Olivia Holt and Aubrey Joseph will reprise their roles in the upcoming season of Marvel's Runaways. The recent cancellation news, paired with some other shakeups in Marvel television, may make one wonder: is Runaways next?
To start, it's not like Freeform had no justification in cancelling Cloak & Dagger. Season 1 had a solid start in the ratings for the network, but Deadline reported that Season 2 saw a drop off in the ratings of close to 40%. Those numbers put it on par with another recently cancelled series Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, so just going on ratings, the cancellation is justified.
Still, one has to question if Cloak & Dagger's fate wasn't sealed already given the sheer amount of Marvel television that's been cancelled or ended in the past year. There are various justifications for each show's cancellation, though the rash of cancellations seems convenient given Marvel's recent promotion of Kevin Feige. He'll be stepping in for Jeph Loeb and overseeing all of Marvel television, and possibly making an honest attempt at unifying all Marvel television and movies.
Which wouldn't be hard to do with Cloak & Dagger, given its numerous stated ties to the former Marvel shows that aired on Netflix. Now, with the heroes bringing that connection over to Marvel's Runaways, this could be signaling that the upcoming Season 3 could be its last.
Of course, we're living in an era where anything can be saved by streaming, and the two heroes crossing over to Marvel's Runaways could hypothetically lead to some positive news for Cloak & Dagger. Perhaps introducing the show on Hulu could signal the series' return on the streaming platform? It's hard to rule out any scenario given the shows that have been saved, though Disney owning both Freeform and Hulu and the casts' options reportedly expiring this week may mean it's for real finished.
Which may be sad for some, though it's worth noting there's no shortage of Marvel content on the way in the near future. There's a slew of Disney+ shows being made under the Marvel Studios umbrella, and Hulu has a fresh batch of projects on the way as well. It may sting in the short term that we lost a promising teen hero series, but will it be missed as fondly when these new shows kick off?
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Cloak & Dagger is done at Freeform, but as mentioned both heroes will make an appearance in Marvel's Runaways in Season 3. Stick with CinemaBlend in the meantime for more information on that, other Marvel shows, and for the latest news in general on what's happening in television and movies.
