It's The End Of An Era For Disney+

Credit: MovieStillsDB Published Sep 4, 2026, 2:35 PM EDT Zach Moser has been writing for ScreenRant since 2022, covering movies, classic TV, and streaming TV. His areas of expertise cover a wide range of genres with a particular interest in horror and drama, and the conversations around the TV and film industry. When he's not covering the latest film releases or chronicling the latest season of a new show, he's writing humor pieces for McSweeney's Internet Tendency, Slackjaw, and Points In Case or working on short stories and his second novel. Sign in to your ScreenRant account It appears that we are coming to the end of an era with Disney+. Disney+ has had an awkward journey since its launch in 2019. In an attempt to keep up with the other networks, Disney decided it needed a repository for its long list of titles. That idea made plenty of sense, there are many Disney shows and movies that people would be willing to pay a monthly fee to access. However, its decision to then lean into original programming felt more like an attempt to emulate the success of other streaming platforms rather than a natural evolution of the network. After years of wild success thanks to the movies in the MCU and with Star Wars, Disney+ went in another direction. Disney+'s first original TV shows premiered on November 12, 2019, with the most important of them being The Mandalorian, a show that had defined the streamer, for better or for worse. Since then, Disney has taken swings at many MCU and Star Wars shows along with a handful of series from other IPs. The effort to merge Hulu into the Disney+ streaming platform only caused more confusion. The two streamers are so different in content and their business models that the combination of the two only served to highlight Disney+'s pain points and deficiencies. There have been successful originals on Disney+, but not nearly as many as you would expect from a major company that has access to so many IPs. While nothing has been said definitively, Disney appears to be changing their strategy on Disney+ original TV shows. In the last year, several high-profile TV shows have been canceled, and their slate of ongoing shows has grown precariously thin. There Have Been Several High-Profile TV Cancelations On Disney+ In The Last Year Credit: MovieStillsDB In the last couple of months, Disney+ has backed out of several deals and TV shows. In October 2025, it was announced that Disney+ was ending its partnership with Doctor Who after two seasons and the as-yet unaired special (via Deadline). The Power Rangers live-action series planned over a year ago is also dead in the water (via Deadline). The Gargoyles live-action series is also not moving forward, and superhero shows aren't safe either (via Variety). Wonder Man was canceled after one season in July 2026 (via Variety). In each of these cases, it appears that budgetary concerns were at the center, not creative ones. That is not a great sign if your streaming platform is getting more headlines for the shows it's not going to have on the platform rather than the shows that will be on the platform. If there are budgetary concerns across several shows, that indicates something is wrong with Disney+, not the shows. The Disney+ Streaming Strategy Never Seemed To Take Off Credit: Lucasfilm This apparent winding down of the Disney+ original TV era doesn't come as a complete surprise. If you were to put together a list of the top 10 best Disney+ Original TV shows, you'd struggle to find series with true potential to have multiple seasons. For every show that worked, there were about four or five that didn't. Even those shows that you would rank high on the streamer have narrow audiences. The best MCU show or Star Wars show may still not offer much to any viewer not particularly endeared to either franchise. The road ahead is murky for Disney+, and a lot more may be riding on the success of Avengers: Doomsday than we realize. Disney+ 4/10