It’s a strange time to be a Marvel fan. After scaling its content in recent years with ambitious projects that spanned both the big and small screen, Marvel has been taking a hard look at its slate and scaling back on its output. As part of these efforts, Marvel has not only been releasing fewer original series and movies, but also canceling work on projects in development for film and television.
Several unconfirmed projects have been shelved indefinitely, with reports that Marvel has decided to be more strategic by releasing fewer projects annually and moving away from interconnected, limited series to put a focus on more traditional, multi-season plays. Among the shows impacted by these shifts was Strange Academy, a series that would have focused on a school founded by Doctor Strange with the purpose of teaching young individuals with magical abilities.
In February, Deadline reported that Strange Academy was among a handful of projects pulled from active development and it didn’t take long for additional reports to pile on suggesting that the project was as good as dead. Well, it seems the show might not be dead after all!
Strange Academy is still in development
While Marvel has yet to formally announce the project, it seems that Strange Academy is not canceled and remains very much in active development!
According to insider Alex Perez, Strange Academy is alive and well in development, indicating that the show is still a priority for Marvel and has not been axed as part of Marvel’s shift in strategy. This is definitely exciting news and makes complete sense as the project is one that feels perfect for TV.
The series is an adaptation of the comic book of the same name and the groundwork was laid on the show in the final stretch of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness when we saw America Chavez enrolling at Kamar-Taj. Further groundwork was put into place within Ironheart via the introduction of Zelma Stanton, who plays a key role in the Strange Academy comic. Granted, Ironheart was intended to come out in 2023, much closer to the release of Multiverse of Madness.
Given its premise of following a group of young students as they learn to master their abilities, Strange Academy would most certainly make a perfect fit for Marvel’s new model. The show could easily map out a multi-season arc that follows a group of students as they attend the academy leading up to their graduation from the academy.
It could even follow a model similar to Agents of SHIELD with connections to the MCU and references to events within the broader MCU, but without needing to be weaved directly into the main events of the MCU storylines. That could make the show accessible to both Marvel superfans who watch every Marvel movie and show, as well as making it accessible to a larger audience as well.
With a Marvel TV panel planned for New York Comic Con, it’ll be interesting to see if Marvel chooses to formally announce Strange Academy with a proper series order. But for now, we’re just happy to know the show is back in development and hasn’t been canceled.