Did the current Marvel TV Shows have to change plans because of the "Infinity War" fallout?

Question

Season 5 of Agents of Shield is currently airing, Season 2 of Luke Cage comes out this June and Season 3 of Daredevil is also expected to be released later this year.

Since what happens at the end of Avengers: Infinity War has major consequences for Earth, it made me wonder if the showrunners of the Marvel TV shows were given advance notice? Did they already know what was going to happen in Infinity War when they planned their storylines or did they have to adjust things to fit with the movie's continuity?

To be clear, I'm not asking how or if the TV shows will address the Infinity War fallout, I'm just asking whether the showrunners had to change already planned storylines of if they knew what was going to happen before they started production on their currents seasons.

My question:

• Were the showrunners of the Marvel TV shows given enough advance notice or did they have to adjust their original ideas for their currents seasons (e.g. set it before the events of Infinity War)?

Answer 1

As per this link, Jeph Loeb, Marvel's head of TV, and thus the man responsible for the content of the Netflix shows, Agents of SHIELD, Cloak And Dagger, etc etc has confirmed that "almost all of" the TV shows are pre-snap.

This was answered during a Reddit AMA and is because of the different schedules of production etc

For the most part our stories will take place BEFORE Thanos clicked his fingers. A lot of that has to do with production and when we are telling our stories vs. when the movies come out. So hang in there. I remember in the comics, one of my favorite stories was the KREE-SKRULL war... which was universal, but in X-Men, no mention. Huh. And it all worked out in the end.

This does, however, indicate that perhaps there will be some stories which will deal with the impact - but there's nothing to suggest which at this time.

Answer 2

The Netflix shows have only paid lip service to the events in any of the MCU movies (i.e in Luke Cage the guys selling footage of the "incident in New York), so they probably won't reference it.

AoS on the other hand has been deeply effected by the events of the MCU (Coulson's resurrection, Nick Fury, Lady Sif, Winter Soldier / Hydra, Civil War / Sokovia accord etc.), so it's highly likely that they will at least reference it in the future (if the show gets renewed for Season 6).

Regarding the showrunners, who knows? I'd say that there's little communication between Disney and Netflix, but as ABC is owned by Disney, they probably get some kind of notice and direction, hence those 'crossovers' mentioned above.

Answer 3

It's highly unlikely you'll get a definitive answer to this, until all of the shows that were in production before and immediately after Infinity War was released have aired. Marvel has never said how much information is shared between Marvel Studios and Marvel Television, and I can't think of a reason they ever would do so. So, the only chance of really getting an answer is if someone on the inside decides to talk about it. Of course, if half the people in Cloak & Dagger are suddenly gone by the end of its first season, then its writers would have obviously had advance knowledge of what happened in IW, since C&D finished filming last Fall.

I will say that my guess is that the showrunners probably weren't given advanced notice. Since Marvel Studios was separated from Marvel Entertainment (the parent of Marvel Television), the TV shows haven't seemed to have much interest in connecting with the movies. There hasn't been more than vague references to them. The heads of the newer shows like Cloak & Dagger and New Warriors have given interviews that make it sound like they just don't want to think about the broader universe.

I imagine that Marvel Television would like to completely ignore the events of Infinity War. As you said, it seems hard to ignore half the population disappearing, though, so they might be forced to. But even if so, they'll probably wait to do so. The timelines of their current shows are either noticeably in the past (e.g., the Netflix shows), or are ambiguous enough that they could be taking place before IW. And, if they can wait until after Avengers 4 is released, since that movie will almost definitely undo the finger snap, the shows might be able to get away with not referencing it.

Assuming that's their mindset, there wouldn't be a need for them to know about the events of IW in advance. And without a need, I'm sure Marvel Studios wouldn't have given out any details.