Marvel Studios has renewed Wonder Man for a second season. The news comes despite mixed streaming numbers for the show’s first season.
Deadline reports that Yahya Abdul-Mateen II will return as Simon Williams. Ben Kingsley will also come back as Trevor Slattery. Co-creators Destin Daniel Cretton and Andrew Guest will serve as executive producers. Cretton will direct, and Guest will act as showrunner.
The creative team hoped for a second season even before the first one aired. Guest said the goal was to keep the show going if “there’s an audience and a fan base that clamors for more Simon and Trevor.” Brad Winderbaum, head of streaming at Marvel, said a renewal depended on “big, big [viewership] numbers.”
Wonder Man did not draw massive audiences at first. Viewers watched 549.6 million minutes of the show during its first 10 days. This covers all eight episodes. By comparison, Loki gathered 731 million minutes for just its opening episode in the same timeframe.
The show still earned strong reviews. It debuted at number eight on the Nielsen Streaming Originals chart. Winderbaum noted it had “one of the lowest, if not the lowest” budget of any live-action Marvel series.
Simon Williams is a lesser-known comic book character. Marvel likely set lower expectations from the start. The show has now built a dedicated fan base that wants to see more.
Guest previously teased that season two could see Simon making a deal with the Department of Damage Control. This comes after he broke Trevor out of prison in season one.
All episodes of Wonder Man season one are available on Disney+. The release date for season two has not been announced.
