Marvel Terminates Overall Deals with The Punisher and Agents of Shield Showrunners

It looks like Marvel is no longer interested in its deal with The Punisher showrunner Steve Lightfoot and Paul Zbyszewski.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Marvel Studios has just terminated its overall deals with Lightfoot and Zybszewski in light of the spread of the novel coronavirus. The COVID-19 pandemic has been taking a toll on the entertainment industry, and it seems like this new update regarding the deal with Lightfoot and Zbyszewski has been taken as a sign of the pandemic's strain on Marvel's film and television branches.

There aren't that many details about what kind of deal the showrunners had with Marvel since the studio declined to comment on the news. We do know, however, that Lightfoot served as the showrunner for two seasons of The Punisher. Unfortunately, because of Marvel's transition to Disney+, Netflix cancelled the critically-acclaimed Marvel series.

While Lightfoot didn't spend that much time over at Marvel aside from serving two years as the executive producer of The Punisher, Zbszewki stayed with the studio for much longer.

The showrunner has been with Marvel ever since the studio launched its first live-action series, Agents of Shield. The show is going to wrap its seven-season run when it returns in May. Zbszewski also serves as the showrunner of the Hellstrom series which is heading to Hulu. It's lucky that the project managed to complete principal photography before the novel coronavirus began wreaking havoc and sparking industry-wide production shutdowns.

COVID-19 has certainly had a major effect on the entertainment industry. We can only hope that the pandemic ends soon.

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