Marvel's New Warriors won't air on Freeform, but that's not necessarily a bad thing
First, the bad news: Fans of Squirrel Girl are going to have to wait a little longer to see a live-action version of the superhero kick ass while also being super-positive about life.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the upcoming Marvel series will no longer air on Freeform, the youth-centric cable channel owned by Disney. Despite expanding to original programming four nights a week in 2018, Freeform couldn’t find a spot for the series in its lineup, prompting Marvel to ask for its show back, as it really wants to premiere the series in the new year. That would normally sound warning bells about a troubled production or a subpar pilot, but this time, at least, where there’s smoke, there may just be a very promising new show.
The reason for some optimism comes from reports about the New Warriors pilot, which reportedly “tested through the roof and caught the attention of high-level Disney executives.” If so, the goal may actually be to try and get the series in front of even more eyeballs than Freeform would have likely delivered. The only difficulty is that Marvel may apparently have some new rules preventing it from selling series to companies outside the Disney family, which would really limit the possible homes for the series. One potential solution would be for the series to become part of Disney’s planned streaming service, which is targeted to launch in 2019. But given the whole reason Marvel asked for its show back is because it thinks New Warriors is great and wants to get it out there in 2018, that would presumably involve some shifting deadlines. Either way, Marvel is hoping to resume production on the initial 10-episode season as soon as it nails down a new home for its young crimefighters.
And hey, Freeform still has Cloak & Dagger coming next year, so the Venn diagram of people who love Marvel superheroes and people who only watch Freeform will continue to overlap, although anyone who only watches Freeform may want to reconsider their life choices.