Marvel TV’s Helstrom Show Canceled At Hulu After Season 1

Helstrom has been canceled on Hulu. The show followed Damon and Ana Helstrom, played by Tom Austen and Sydney Lemmon, respectively. The pair are siblings and children of a renowned serial killer, trying to track down the worst of humanity. The series loosely followed the comic book characters of the same name, sans one 'L' in their last name. In the comics, the Helstrom children are originally the progeny of Satan, but the show changed that, as well as other elements of their comic book counterparts.

Helstrom was part of a planned sequence of Marvel shows at Hulu spearheaded by Jeff Loeb, head of the now-defunct Marvel TV. Loeb, at one time, was in charge of overseeing Marvel's Netflix shows and various other properties, including Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Legion, and Runaways. All of those shows have now concluded their runs. Marvel Television has since been absorbed into the larger studio, leaving most Marvel shows to Disney+ exclusives as part of the larger MCU.

According to Variety, Helstrom is just the latest Marvel show to conclude its run as Marvel gears up to release several shows on Disney+. The show aired for one season on the streamer. It will join the likes of Marvel's Runaways, which ran for three seasons, and the Ghost Rider series, which never got off the ground. Hulu will still have two animated Marvel series, M.O.D.O.K., and Hit-Monkey.

Even though the show had been in the works for a few years, Helstrom was pretty much dead on arrival. It was revealed to be in a separate reality from the MCU, further isolating it from other Marvel properties. It's poor critical reception certainly didn't help, with many saying that the show stripped the characters of what made them great. While it's unfortunate, it's the same case for a lot of other Marvel television shows. With the studio wanting all of their properties under one umbrella, the show was never likely to take off or be integrated into the MCU.

Marvel is currently revving up to release 10 MCU shows over the next few years, and all of those will be on Disney+. Similar to the cancellation of their Netflix series, Marvel has expressed little interest in continuing shows that exist outside of the MCU or ones that are loosely related to it. Helstrom is no exception. It was a product of an era where Marvel was less centralized and, therefore, less focused on their overall goal. Now that all of their properties are being integrated into one seamless universe, on television and the big screen, the studio has little room (or money) for properties that do not serve the larger narrative.