Tatiana Maslany Casts Doubt On Marvel Making She-Hulk Season 2
For my money, "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" is one of the better Marvel Cinematic Universe series to release on Disney+ so far. Like so many other recent MCU titles, you can tell the show suffered from a combination of having to service the greater MCU mythology and the House of Ideas' chaotic approach to film and TV production. Despite all that and only being allowed one hand on the steering wheel, "She-Hulk" head writer Jessica Gao and her fellow creatives still managed to craft a funny and frisky (not to mention, refreshingly sex-positive) superhero sitcom — one that even honored its source material's meta ethos with a clever finale that saw Jennifer Walters (a winsome Tatiana Maslany) playfully stick it to Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige. Well, a robotic version of him, anyway.
Unfortunately, with Marvel Studios now in the process of overhauling its approach to developing streaming series, that means any previous MCU shows that weren't an undeniable slam-dunk are unlikely to return for a second outing. That includes "She-Hulk," as the series simply didn't do well enough in terms of either its critical response (not including the sad sacks who review-bombed it on the tomatoes website) or viewership to automatically justify a return to the well. Maslany herself expressed her doubts about "She-Hulk" season 2 during a recent appearance on the Codenames LIVE! — The New Class Twitch stream (via IndieWire).
When asked if she would be going green again, the "Orphan Black" alum got a little more serious, stating, "I don't think so." She lightened the mood after that, half-jokingly adding, "I think we blew our budget, and Disney was like, 'No thanks.'"
She-Hulk deserves a retrial
From the get-go, "She-Hulk" wasn't dealt a fair hand of cards. Well into post-production, Gao has confirmed that Feige and other top-level Marvel executives insisted on a series of flashbacks to Jennifer gaining her super-powers and training with her cousin Bruce Banner (Mark Ruffalo) being bumped up from the fourth episode to the pilot, which necessitated additional reshoots. But even more than that, Gao and her creative team were reportedly forced to charge head-first into filming before their scripts were finished baking. By the time the show's marketing was underway, its significant visual effects were still being finalized, which resulted in trailers and TV spots featuring some decidedly shaky She-Hulk CGI (most of which was better in the actual show, though it certainly would have benefitted from additional refinement).
However, as Maslany pointed out, the biggest issue from Disney and Marvel's perspective was probably the price tag, with an episode of "She-Hulk" apparently costing as much as $25 million to produce (an astronomical number by TV standards and one that's on the level with the later seasons of "Game of Thrones" and "Stranger Things"). Nevertheless, when you add all these factors together, it feels like the series was almost set up to underperform, so much so it's kind of a miracle that season 1 was any good at all. If nothing else, it would be a shame if we never saw Jennifer Walters in the MCU again. If not in "She-Hulk" season 2, then she at least deserves a spot on the New Avengers roster that's apparently being assembled.
"She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" is currently streaming on Disney+.