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Helstrom is the latest one-and-done at Hulu.
The Marvel drama from former head of television Jeph Loeb has been axed at the Disney-backed streamer.
Helstrom was one of two live-action Marvel dramas Hulu picked up shortly after the comic book giant’s Netflix deal crumbled. The series starred Tom Austen and was from showrunner Paul Zbyszewski (Agents of SHIELD). The latter had his overall deal with Marvel terminated in April amid both a shift in direction and financial issues stemming from the pandemic.
With the cancellation, Helstrom officially closes the book on live-action scripted shows from former Marvel Television president Loeb. After launching the company into scripted originals with former ABC drama Agents of SHIELD, Loeb exited last fall and the company folded the TV division into Kevin Feige’s studio unit. Marvel’s live-action TV series are now exclusively on Disney+ and are either direct spinoffs from their box office mega-hits or are directly tied to the MCU’s central storyline. (Loeb, meanwhile, would often joke that “it’s all connected,” though his TV series never had more than a rare tie-in to the films.)
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Helstrom was picked up to series in May 2019 alongside a live-action Ghost Rider (featuring the same actor from SHIELD). Four months later, Hulu pulled the plug on Ghost Rider after creative differences with the project, which was exec produced by Zbyszewski as he plotted a joint universe for both dramas.
Helstrom was Loeb’s last live-action series. Hulu wrapped Runaways last year after three seasons. All that remains from Loeb now are two animated series at Hulu, MODOK and Hit-Monkey. Both shows are on track to bow during the first half of 2021. (MODOK and Hit-Monkey are all that remains of the four-show-and-a-special animated universe that Marvel and Loeb originally envisioned for Hulu. The other two shows, Howard the Duck and Tigra & Dazzler, were dropped in January following creative differences and the idea of a shared universe that culminated in the special was dropped.
Bowing in October, Helstrom launched to tepid reviews. The show has a 27 percent score among critics on RottenTomatoes.com, though viewers felt otherwise (87 percent). THR chief TV critic Daniel Fienberg called it “Monotonously gloomy and devoid of either frights or inspiration” in his review. Sydney Lemmon, Elizabeth Marvel and Robert Wisdom co-starred in the 10-episode series.
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