‘Agent Carter’ Canceled: Rumors Point To ‘Agent Carter’ Ending After Season 2

Agent Carter getting canceled shouldn’t surprise fans that have been paying attention to ratings. Though Agent Carter hasn’t been officially canceled just yet, there are more strong rumors suggesting the show will come to a close following Season 2. A report from Variety.com states that Agent Carter “will likely be axed” in the coming days. This follows news that star actress Hayley Atwell will be starring in a new show called Conviction this fall.

This follows a previous report from Variety.com, where it was reported that Agent Carter could get canceled because Hayley Atwell had signed on to a new drama that was heading into the pilot phase. At the time, Variety stated that the show was “highly unlikely to return.” This was a foreboding sign for the program, suggesting that a third season would be out of the question if Conviction got picked up for an episode run by ABC. That is exactly what appears to be in the plans for the network now.

The Agent Carter ratings had been dipping since the first hour aired in Season 2. The tenth episode of the season aired on March 1 and only drew an estimated 2.349 million viewers. The episode also had a 0.73 mark in the 18-49 demographic. That low number is key, because it is what advertisers target from this type of show and time slot. The show has been low in that number in every episode this season, with the last five episodes all falling under 2.5 million estimated viewers. That is really low on ABC.

The show takes place following World War II and covers Peggy Carter’s involvement with the SSR (Strategic Scientific Reserve). Carter was an important character in the first Captain America movie, also appearing in The Winter Soldier, Ant-Man, and Age Of Ultron, as well. ABC decided to give the character a show after Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. found some success for the network. Enough viewers tuned in to earn the show a second season, but that might be the final installment on television that revolves around Peggy Carter.

Having Agent Carter canceled takes an important female character off television, but there simply weren’t enough viewers to maintain it in a prime time slot for ABC. Shows like this one have found more success on CW, which might have been a landing spot if DC wasn’t controlling so much of the network. The additional fact that star Hayley Atwell is moving on to another show has spelled out doom for the future of the program on any network.

Hayley Atwell was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for her work on The Pillars of the Earth back in 2010. She also received praise for her work in the movie The Duchess back in 2008. Her new show, called Conviction, has four episodes that will air on ABC in the fall. IMDB.com gives a brief rundown of what the show is going to be about.

“A brilliant young attorney (Hayley Atwell), who is also the daughter of a former U.S. president, is blackmailed to head up LA’s new Conviction Integrity Unit. She and her team investigate cases where people may have been wrongly convicted.”

While the end of Agent Carter appears to be at hand, Hayley Atwell could still appear as Peggy Carter in future Marvel films. The well-liked character has not just appeared in flashbacks (Age of Ultron), but also a bit older (Ant-Man) thanks to so many backstories getting used in the films. There is also a chance that if Conviction doesn’t find success and online support for a third season of Agent Carter grows, that another network could consider reviving the show at some point.

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