Luke Cage himself, Mike Colter is hopeful that the show's second season will premiere as soon as a year (or less) from now. Marvel TV is on its way to successfully replicating what Avengers did on the big screen with The Defenders on Netflix. The titular characters from the four television series of Daredevil, Jessica Jones, Luke Cage, and Iron Fist will come together in August for Defenders, completing the promise that Marvel and Netflix made when these series were announced four and a half years ago.
The Defenders may be the culmination of the Netflix corner of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, but that isn't slowing down production on Marvel TV's other Netflix properties. The Punisher is being spun-off from Daredevil season two later this year, while Daredevil itself has been officially renewed for a third season - along with second seasons for Jessica Jones and Luke Cage.
As of right now, the only release date we know for certain is the upcoming Defenders series, with everything else is still up in the air. Speaking at Houston’s Comicpalooza last week (hat tip MCU Exchange), Luke Cage star Mike Colter was hopeful that the next season of his solo series will premiere sometime in 2018. Here's what he said on the matter:
I’m about to start next month. When the Defenders comes out on August 18, that’ll be something we can hold onto for a little while and we can enjoy that. And hopefully, we’ll get to see Luke Cage out early next year.
Netflix tends to be pretty secretive when it comes to release dates. While we know that The Punisher will premiere sometime later this year, for example, the exact date has yet to be revealed by the streaming service. That makes it a bit harder to gauge exactly when the next series after that will premiere.
Up until this year, Netflix has been releasing two Marvel television series per year which makes it possible that Luke Cage won't premiere until 2019. If the Marvel/Netflix series are still taking a page from the Avengers playbook, which have just upped to producing three instead of two films a year, then it seems to be probable for Jessica Jones, Daredevil, and Luke Cage all to premiere in 2018 from this point on. Netflix is now juggling four Marvel series so it would probably be in their best interest.
As for the order of when they'll premiere, both Jessica Jones and Daredevil were renewed in January and July of 2016, respectively, months before Luke Cage in December 2016. That means they're almost certainly further along the development process. Jessica Jones has already begun filming so it will undoubtedly be the next series to premiere after The Punisher. It is possible that Daredevil will premiere after Luke Cage since we still don't know when season three of that series will begin shooting, while Colter has revealed that Luke Cage season 2 begins shooting in June. Best case scenario places the Colter led series sometime in mid-2018.
Iron Fist has yet to be renewed but it was Netflix's most binged drama when it premiered, so renewal is likely. Depending on how popular The Defenders series is, which it almost certainly will be, we should expect to hear about a second season of the team-up miniseries in the future too. Upping the amount of Marvel Television series orders from four to six. That definitely also adds pressure to release three series per year instead of two and shortens the release of each season of every series to every other year instead of once every three years.
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The Defenders arrives on August 18th, with The Punisher coming later this year. Premiere dates for the new seasons of Jessica Jones, Daredevil, and Luke Cage have not yet been revealed.
Source: MCU Exchange