Disney+ is shaking up their release schedule some of of their upcoming Marvel Studios series. While the already announced release date for October 6’s launch of the second season Loki and late December’s premier of the second season of What If…? are staying put, three other series – Echo, X-Men ’97 and Agatha are getting pushed further down the calendar into later 2024 dates.
Echo, which spins out of last year’s Hawkeye series and stars Alaqua Cox, moves from its previously announced November 29 premier date to January 2024. The series sees Cox reprise her role of a former New York organized crime family head who travels back to her home town in Oklahoma to try and find redemption for her past life. Echo is deaf, but has the ability to mimic another person’s movements, usually in the form of their fighting skills. The streamer is keeping to their previously announced plan to drop all episodes of the series on the same date, rather than roll them out on a weekly basis as they have with most of their other series.
Also moving from an originally planned Fall 2023 release to early 2024 is the animated series X-Men ’97. The series is a direct sequel to the fan favorite X-Men animated show from 1996. Reportedly most, if not all, of the original voice cast will be returning, and Marvel is betting big on this sequel’s popularity, as it has a second season already in production.
The last title to move is the WandaVision spinoff Agatha, centering on Katheryn Hahn’s titular witch character. Originally set for a winter 2023 premier, Disney+ is pushing the show back to next fall, where it will serve as a lead up to the Halloween season. The show also now has a new name – Agatha: Darkhold Diaries. The show was announced as Agatha: House Of Harkness before getting a previous change to Agatha: Coven Of Chaos.
The Hollywood Reporter, who broke the story, is crediting the moves in part to the ongoing dual writers and actors guild strikes, delaying some production and the desire by Marvel to maybe spread out their projects a bit more on the calendar in order to “make each title an event for fans and audiences.” That last bit feels like it could be a response to some complaints that there are too many Marvel/Star Wars/etc. shows to keep current with. What effect this will have on the already announced series Daredevil: Born Again – which was in production before being shut down by the strikes – and Ironheart – which wrapped last November – remains to be seen.
