Why Was Agent Carter Cancelled and Can It Be Revived?

Agent Carter was cancelled due to low ratings, but the series was loved by critics and fans and could still return on one of Disney’s streaming platforms.

What Is It?

Back in the 2014-15 season, ABC came up with what seemed like a brilliant idea at the time.  They had picked up the series Agent Carter which would air while Agents of SHIELD was on its Winter hiatus in the same timeslot.  Since the shows were related, it would appeal to the same audience and keep them tuning in while AoS was on its typical mid-season break.  Agent Carter followed the adventures of Agent Peggy Carter–first introduced in the Captain America movie–working for the SSR (Strategic Science Reserve) in the years following the end of World War II (the SSR was the predecessor to SHIELD). It surely seemed poised for success before it debuted because it was a spin-off from the popular Avengers movie franchise and it tapped into the AoS audience while also acting as a prequel of sorts to that show. Plus it had a stellar cast with Haley Atwell in the lead role and James D’Arcy as her sidekick along with quite a few more strong players in supporting roles. The first season of the show was a ton of fun with its throwback spy fi approach and it received high marks from fans and critics alike, but for some reason, not many people tuned in to watch it.

Aired: ABC, 2015-16, 2 Season Totaling 18 Episodes

Developed By: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely

Starring: Hayley Atwell, James D’Arcy, Chad Michael Murray, Enver Gjokaj

Why Was It Cancelled?

Agents of SHIELD was already in a ratings slump that year and Agent Carter bowed to even lower numbers when it debuted at mid-season. But both shows had Disney on their side as apparently the Mouse House wanted to keep the MCU tie-ins alive and well on the network that they owned, and they were renewed for the 2015-16 season. But when Agent Carter returned in January 2016, the same day ratings were even lower, and its fate was definitely in question. It was still well-received by fans and critics, just not enough people were tuning in, and the network decided to pull the plug. Haley Atwell later claimed that ABC cancelled the show because they wanted to move her to the more conventional procedural series Conviction (which was cancelled as well):

It’s a shame the network canceled it and wanted to put me in something more mainstream. You know, Marvel didn’t want it to end. There’s lots of online campaigns to bring her back. Fans loved her. I think it was just a network economical thing: ‘Let’s put Hayley Atwell in something more mainstream that’s less genre-specific and see if we can get higher ratings.’

How Did Fans Respond?

A fan campaign tried to lobby Netflix to pick up the show for a third season, and their petition eventually amassed over 130K signatures. And Haley Atwell had said at that time she would be willing to do “whatever it takes” to make a third season happen. There were also rumors that Peggy Carter could cross over to AoS in one of its later seasons, but neither that nor the hoped-for third season ever emerged (though Enver Gjokaj did reprise his role as Daniel Sousa during the seventh season of AoS).

Then, after ABC had cancelled the Roseanne reboot following a controversial tweet sent out by the show’s lead actress, fans started lobbying for ABC to bring back Agent Carter to replace the demised sitcom. AC started trending on Twitter and another petition emerged, but the network showed no interest in bringing back the series (and it ended up continuing its sitcom renamed as The Conners). Haley Atwell herself seemed to have lost enthusiasm for the character, making the following comments about returning to the show:

I think the main thing, though, is if it were — if there were interest in Netflix or in her being in a film or something — that it would have to feel… it would have to feel right. I wouldn’t want to go over old ground. It would have to be new, there would have to be higher production values so she could do more. I’d have to feel like it’s not just, you know, ‘a case a week with Peggy Carter’.

Can It Be Revived?

Agent Carter was a well-written genre entry that delivered a strong female lead and received praise from critics while also developing a loyal following. But unfortunately it did not draw enough of an audience for it to survive on a broadcast network. However, in the current environment dominated by streaming services it might find an audience and Disney+ is the perfect location for a third season. The first two seasons are already there and that streamer has found plenty of success with the MCU shows WandaVision and The Falcon and The Winter Soldier (which included an appearance of Peggy Carter’s niece Sharon Carter). It could return as an event series that could potentially carry on into an ongoing show. Disney continues to expand the MCU on its streaming platform, and Agent Carter is a beloved character that fans would definitely like to see return to action. Haley Atwell is already set to voice the character in the upcoming What If . . . ? animated series (in which she becomes Captain Britain). So perhaps that will spur an interest in a return of the Agent Carter series. Fans could make a Call to Action on the social networks and possibly spearhead a subscription drive for people to sign up for the service to watch the first two seasons of the show. That might be enough to convince Disney execs that it is time to give this show another chance. Now is the perfect time for fans to step up and show their support and they just might be rewarded with a third season of AC.

Did you watch Agent Carter and would you support efforts to revive the show? Chime in below in the comments.

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