Defenders Won't Change Luke Cage: Season 2 Direction

CBR

By Nicole Sobon

Published May 20, 2017

The Luke Cage showrunner promises that the second season will be its own thing, and not serve to react to The Defenders.

Filming on the second season of Luke Cage is set to begin next month, and while not much is known regarding the second season currently, showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker assures that the sophomore outing will not serve to react to the events of The Defenders.

During a recent interview with Mashable (via ScreenRant) at a recent For Your Consideration event to promote Luke Cage for Emmy nominations, Coker was asked whether the events of The Defenders will influence the second season of Luke Cage. To this, the showrunner offered up a musical analogy by comparing the Defenders to the Wu-Tang Clan.

It’s like the Wu-Tang. You’ve got the Wu-Tang Clan record, which is what The Defenders represents. Say that Luke Cage is Ghostface, say that Jessica Jones is Method Man. It’s like they’re all kind of part of the same clique, but each record sounds different.

Coker continued by saying that, "...they acknowledge each other, but they're not really dependent on each other."

This shouldn't be entirely surprising, though. While the films and the Netflix shows are two very different aspects of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the Netflix shows have followed the design of the films. They took their time developing its characters, introducing each individual hero's show before bringing them together for The Defenders, much like the films did with the Avengers. And while Luke Cage star Mike Colter has teased a larger connection behind the villain in The Defenders, saying that it connects back to all of the individual series, each show has truly been its own thing -- with the lone exception of the Claire Temple (Rosario Dawson) cameo continually serving as a connective bit of tissue.

As of right now, news on the second season of Luke Cage is scarce. We know that Shades (Theo Rossi) is set to return, and character breakdowns have hinted at the inclusion of Bushmaster, another victim of Dr. Bursting, who was responsible for giving Luke Cage his powers. With production right around the corner, official details should begin to surface in the coming weeks.

The first season of Luke Cage is currently streaming on Netflix. Although a release date has yet to be announced for the second season, Mike Colter has recently suggested that it could hit the streaming service sometime in early 2018.