'Wonder Man' Showrunner Talks Cancellation and Says Script Was Already Finished

The surprising cancellation of Wonder Man affected everyone involved with the production. From lead actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who was nominated for the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for the role, to showrunner Andrew Guest, who addressed the matter on his TikTok profile.

In the post, Guest explains what happened behind the scenes. Read the transcript of the showrunner's remarks in the video below:

"I just want to say that I've been hearing you. I appreciate all of you. I feel the same way you're feeling. And I just want to clarify what I can here.

This is not a marketing stunt. There is no movie in production, and Destin's schedule — or anyone else's schedule — was not the issue. Yahya, Destin, Sir Ben, and I all loved making this series, we were all very passionate about continuing to make it, and we were excited about it. The contracts were signed, the schedules were clear. The writers' room was supposed to start this month, and production was supposed to begin early next year.

And... a decision was made internally between Disney and Marvel that this didn't make sense for them, even though it did a few months ago. And that's essentially all I really know. The numbers aren't really shared with me and, although the writers' room hadn't started yet, I had already written the first episode of season 2, and we had an outline for where the season was going, and everyone was feeling really good about it. It was going to be a truly incredible season that would hopefully surpass season 1.

Thank you all for speaking up and making your voices heard about how you feel about this. And I think there are important conversations happening online about the kind of stories we're prioritizing and the kind of series the platforms want to make. I hope people are listening, and I also hope Emmy voters are thinking about Yahya and how much he deserves an Emmy for the incredible work he did on this series."

Everything you need to know about Wonder Man

Introduced in comics in 1964, Wonder Man is Simon Williams, who has super strength and once worked as Baron Zemo's henchman, but later earned the Avengers' trust, eventually becoming a founding member of the West Coast Avengers.

In the comics, Wonder Man has also worked as an actor and stuntman in Hollywood — and this is the version the new series appears to portray, with Simon as an actor looking for opportunities while hiding superpowers he is still unable to control

Yahya Abdul-Mateen II (Watchmen) will play the production's main character, which will also feature Ben Kingsley in the cast, returning as the infamous Trevor Slattery, a character he played in Iron Man 3 and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Destin Daniel Cretton, of Shang-Chi, will serve as executive producer and is also expected to direct some of the episodes of Wonder Man. The script is by Andrew Guest, of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and Community.

All episodes of Wonder Man are now available on Disney+.