In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, a fictional movie called Wonder Man was released to such immense critical acclaim that its director considers making a sequel, even though the project was originally envisioned as a stand-alone adventure. Turns out, a similar scenario played out in the real world with the Disney+ series of the same name.
Wonder Man has been doing wonders for the MCU. Fans fell in love with a human tale of two actors trying to make it big in Hollywood while facing the demons from their past. The chemistry between Yahya Abdul-Mateen II's Simon Williams and Ben Kingsley's Trevor Slattery was so natural and captivating that everyone wants to see more of them. With that in mind, fans are holding onto hope that the acclaimed series gets renewed for a second season, and they aren't the only ones.
Wonder Man showrunner addresses the possibility of a second season
During an interview with MovieWeb, Wonder Man co-creator and showrunner Andrew Guest addressed the possibility of a second season renewal, before the series was even released:
"I think it's really going to be up to how the audience responds to this series. I think our job when we were making this show was to make a show that felt like it could keep going, sure, but also was satisfying in its own, you know, at the end of the day. And so I think as far as people who make these decisions go, if there's an audience and a fan base that clamors for more Simon and Trevor, I think we'll get more of both of them."
Such a sentiment was also echoed by the Head of Streaming, Television, and Animation at Marvel Studios, Brad Winderbaum, who stated that Wonder Man could have a future if it were released to "big, big [viewership] numbers", but was that ultimately the case? On the one hand, Wonder Man found incredible critical success, quickly becoming one of the top 5 highest-rated MCU projects. Unfortunately, viewership numbers didn't quite reflect that.
According to data gathered by tracking company Luminate, Wonder Man clocked a total of 549.6 million minutes watched in its first 10 days of release, across all episodes. For comparison, the other Marvel Spotlight series, Echo, brought a total of 731 million minutes watched during that same period. Furthermore, the premiere episode of Loki alone gathered 731 million minutes watched.
Wonder Man's viewership numbers might not have been stellar during its opening days, but that doesn't close the door on a second season renewal just yet. According to renowned and reliable insider Daniel Richtman, Marvel is "very close to greenlighting" new episodes for Wonder Man. After all, it's worth keeping in mind that expectations for a series starring an obscure superhero are lower than those set on a bigger project like Loki.
Andrew Guest also revealed that he has already planned a potential storyline for Wonder Man Season 2, further cementing the idea that we could see Simon Williams and Trevor Slattery again on the small screen sooner rather than later:
"The DODC knows [Simon has powers]. But maybe they don't want to let everyone else know it. Maybe there's a deal to be worked out between Simon and the DODC, where there's a little trade-off going on.’ We could figure it. We can square this circle, given the opportunity."
Only time will tell whether Wonder Man will be renewed for a second season or if its characters will appear somewhere else (such as Avengers: Doomsday, as rumored). Fortunately, the show's critical acclaim certainly helps its situation, and with a bit of luck, it won't be long before we discover more about its fate.