Against All Odds, Marvel's Inhumans Season 2 Could Still Happen

Superheroes are all the rage nowadays, and Marvel has popular superhero projects on the big screen as well as the small screen. The announcement of an Inhumans TV show back in 2017 was met with a great deal of excitement, not least because the first two episodes would be released in IMAX format ahead of the broadcast premiere on ABC. Unfortunately, Inhumans failed to garner much of an audience and critics weren't especially enamored with it, which led many to assume that the show was done after Season 1. Now, however, it seems that Season 2 isn't entirely out of the question. ABC President Channing Dungey had this to say about the future of Inhumans:

It didn't perform for us at the level that we would've wanted. We haven't made any official decision yet about what we're going to pick up in May, but I will say that the numbers, unfortunately, were less exciting for us than we hoped they would be.

On the one hand, Channing Dungey's comments at the TCA press tour (via EW) do indicate that ABC was disappointed with the ratings delivered by Inhumans. On the other hand, Dungey was quite clear when she stated that no official decision has yet been made about whether Inhumans is really done for good. The pick-up evidently won't need to happen until May, and a lot can happen in the coming months. After all, a Marvel TV show is still a Marvel TV show, and superheroes are as popular as ever.

Who knows? Perhaps a second season could be exactly what Inhumans needs to really come into its own. The end of Season 1 saw the Inhumans come to Earth after the destruction of their home on the moon, which could theoretically open the door to crossovers with characters from other Marvel properties. Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. features a couple of Inhumans as series regulars. While S.H.I.E.L.D. isn't exactly breaking ratings records, it does have a loyal core group of fans who might follow Daisy and/or Elena to Inhumans if they crossed over for an episode or two. A second season could also give the show the chance to compensate for what didn't work in the first season.

Still, we shouldn't start counting on Inhumans ever returning to the small screen for more episodes. While there are reasons why it might be worth bringing back for ABC, and the ABC president didn't rule out bringing it back, the fact remains that Inhumans simply didn't work the way it was intended. The IMAX release wasn't a success, and the buzz the series generated largely wasn't positive. Inhumans simply may not be able to recover from its first season.

Only time will tell. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for the latest in superhero TV news. You can find superhero action (including some Inhumans) on ABC nowadays with new episodes of Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. on Fridays at 9 p.m. ET. For your other viewing options now and in the coming weeks, take a look at our midseason TV premiere guide and our 2018 Netflix premiere schedule.

Laura Hurley
Senior Content Producer

Laura turned a lifelong love of television into a valid reason to write and think about TV on a daily basis. She's not a doctor, lawyer, or detective, but watches a lot of them in primetime. CinemaBlend's resident expert and interviewer for One Chicago, the galaxy far, far away, and a variety of other primetime television. Will not time travel and can cite multiple TV shows to explain why. She does, however, want to believe that she can sneak references to The X-Files into daily conversation (and author bios).