Hayley Atwell Talks Agent Carter’s Cancellation And Her MCU Future

All good things must come to an end at some point.This was the case for Marvel’s Agent Carter, which got canceled last year after two seasons. While receiving critical praise, the show struggled in terms of ratings.

Series star Hayley Atwell opens up about why it got the axe. While promoting Howard’s End, Atwell tells IGN how studio politics led to the show’s fate. It turns out to have been a business decision in the end.

Agent Carter

“You know Marvel and all the creatives behind the making of the show loved it,” she says. “And we loved it. We all loved making it. It was a network political thing. They wanted to put me in something mainstream [Conviction] to get their ratings up rather than something that was more genre specific. There were a lot of economic decisions behind it, and I wasn’t a part of the conversation.”


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Atwell admits the cancellation did come as a shock. “So we were all really surprised about that because we kind of got the sense that people were liking it,” she says. “It had this cult following.”

Agent Carter "A Little Song and Dance"
Peggy and Chief Sousa dancing up a storm

Atwell still hopes to reprise her role in the MCU. Although Peggy dies in Civil War, she did appear in Winter Soldier and Age of Ultron. During the Ant-Man prologue, Atwell made an appearance as a 60-ish Peggy. Using this logic, she can play her from youth to middle age.

“I’d love to see [Peggy] more in films,” she says. “I’d love to see her in her own film. And if we can keep evolving it so that she does new things so that I can surprise myself and she can keep surprising me then I’d love to do it.

“The fact that we know that she lives until the age of 96 means that technically I could be employed for the rest of my life, you know.”


Were you a fan of ‘Agent Carter?’ Sound off in the comments below.

Jonathan Bruce
Jonathan Bruce
I am an English teacher by day and a freelance writer at night. Specialities include news, reviews, opinion and commentary articles. When I'm not teaching, I participate in theatre, building sets and working stage crew as a hobby. I also enjoy reading and having an occasional glass of Scotch.