Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. is the longest-running MCU-affiliated TV series still on the air.
But as we enter phase 4 of the MCU, S.H.I.E.L.D. is going to conclude with its seventh season.
Here's why the end is coming.
No one on a TV show's production team likes to discover that their work is ending, but
it's a rare blessing when they get to plan ahead of time and tie off loose ends in a
satisfying way.
Such is the case for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
Production staff voluntarily decided to cut it off at season seven, after ABC preemptively
renewed the series before season six had even finished airing.
When Deadline asked Marvel TV head Jeph Loeb why it was coming to a close, he replied,
"The simplest answer is so that we can end on our terms, really."
He also described this pre-planned funeral as a, quote, "celebration," although that
description might ring a little hollow to some.
Maybe it's really just an expression of stiff-upper-lip bravery in the face of a new era in the MCU.
"Do I have time for a boba break?"
"I don't know, man."
Marvel TV used to be a separate but commercially-joined division within Marvel Entertainment, the
company that previously owned all the comic intellectual property from which the MCU makes
its billions.
However, Marvel Entertainment's acquisition by Disney and its subsequent restructuring
in 2015 appear to have left Marvel TV in the dust.
After all, it's still under the jurisdiction of Marvel Entertainment's Ike Perlmutter,
not Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige.
Marvel Entertainment and Marvel Studios had a parting of the ways, so while Perlmutter
and Marvel Entertainment got the TV shows, Feige and Marvel Studios got complete creative
control over the films, and that's changed just about everything.
The Marvel Cinematic Universe is now its own thing unto itself, and with Marvel Studios'
separation from Marvel Entertainment, it appears more and more that the TV division that had
once been so ambitious is slowly being left behind and, ultimately, replaced.
Marvel TV does have a whole slate of its own programming set to expand on Hulu over the
next year, so the division itself is not about to die completely.
But Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.
feels more like a throwback to the way things used to be and emblematic of Marvel TV as
a whole, tethered to but ignored by its big brother, Marvel Studios.
While shows like Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. were produced by Marvel Television separately from
Marvel Studios, it looks like Marvel Studios has now decided to get into the TV game as
well.
Kevin Feige recently announced that in Phase 4 of the MCU, there will be a whole new slate
of TV shows released on Disney+.
And this move is putting Marvel Television in quite a bind.
After all, the Marvel Studios shows on Disney+ are going to be more like smaller-scale films,
complete with that bottomless Disney budget and major stars like Paul Bettany and Elizabeth
Olsen.
Plus, they're based on super successful movies, so it makes sense that Disney would want to
emphasize these prestige projects over less-buzzy series like S.H.I.E.L.D.
And really, it's no coincidence that other series such as Luke Cage and Legion have also
been cancelled around the same time as S.H.I.E.L.D.
"They'll be gone soon enough."
Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. started off with strong Nielsen ratings when it debuted in 2013, but
they quickly fell off.
Ever since then, it hasn't done particularly well as far as traditional live audiences
go.
It's always performed better in later DVR viewing, but that doesn't necessarily keep
a production afloat.
Those declining viewership numbers can be partly blamed on lost interest over time,
as well as on the questionable move in the fifth season from Tuesday to Friday, quite
possibly the worst night to be on when you want to be must-see TV.
Despite these challenges, S.H.I.E.L.D. is nonetheless generally well-regarded by its
remaining viewers who do tune in.
"Didn't know you liked that."
"Didn't know you'd do that."
Nevertheless, the show's loyal fanbase refuses to be deterred by critical and corporate naysaying.
It might be smaller than your average fandom, but S.H.I.E.L.D.'s supporters make themselves
known by consistently tweeting their reactions.
And there's no doubt they'll continue watching old episodes and crafting their own fan fiction
adventures for the team even after the show ends its run.
Joss Whedon is one of the original creators of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., and he's still
credited as an executive producer.
The show began in 2013 in the wake of the huge success of The Avengers the previous
year, and back then, Whedon was more than just the director of that film.
He was the creative helmsman tasked with keeping the MCU together.
That began to change in 2015 after his struggle with making Avengers: Age of Ultron and his
subsequent fallout with Marvel Studios brass.
Enter the Russo brothers, who eventually took over Whedon's place as go-to Avengers directors.
In the end, it seems that Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. will be a fatality of all this change and
shifting corporate priority.
It's the last bastion of an eroded master plan abandoned by its author.
That's not the show's fault, but now that the Whedon era is long over, S.H.I.E.L.D.
is finally being left behind.
Despite all these struggles and the looming end, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.'s creative staff
and fans alike can be satisfied and proud as the show comes to a close, even if it brings
sorrow.
Not every TV show gets to enjoy seven seasons, after all.
Its greatest achievement might just be that it made a real go of weaving together a whole
universe for regular people existing within the MCU.
The creators never received much more information about the films than audiences did, but they
still managed to spin plenty of golden storylines.
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