Mike Colter Talks 'Luke Cage' Season 3 Story Ideas

Iron Fist‘s second season came in like a storm and we have already set our eyes on this month’s release of Daredevil‘s third season. Outside of the already confirmed third season for Jessica Jones and the upcoming The Punisher season, we know very little about Netflix’s future plans for Marvel. Luke Cage left quite an impression with its second season, as it ended on a huge twist.

Be warned, if you haven’t seen the latest season of Luke Cage, there are major spoilers ahead.

The hero of Harlem has accepted that he may never rid the streets and decided to simply become the kingpin himself. It leads to a strong divide between him and Misty, which leaves us at a very interesting starting point for a third season. There is a lot of danger for a man with those kinds of abilities to get his hand on so much power. Cage is a good man at heart but as the Godfather Part II scene teased, he might end up going down some darker paths. Mike Colter certainly alludes to those developments at Baltimore Comic-Con.

I think our plan for Season 3, Cheo Hodari Coker, our showrunner, is writing Season 3 as we speak. I think the plan for Season 3 is to explore Luke’s ability to govern and be fair. At the end, we talk about there being a new sheriff in town, a new king in Harlem. We’re going to see how he deals with this power, because we know absolute power can corrupt absolutely. And sometimes when you don’t have someone checking you, someone to put you in place, someone to tell you ‘you can’t do that,’ we sometimes get out of control. We see that everywhere.

What is really interesting is that he confirms that Cheo Hodari Coker will return as showrunner for a now confirmed third season. It was only a matter of time before we would get some official word but it is good to get some kind of confirmation that they are already preparing the next chapter in Luke Cage’s life. We did get a tease that Misty might need Colleen’s help in taking down Cage in case he goes too far. The actor points out that Cage has not lost his positive attitude that he can still do the right thing and not end up like Cottonmouth or Dillard.

Luke is in Harlem, and so Harlem is going to be his place that he’s going to have to control. And I think he’s decided to use organized crime in a very, not practical way. I think he thinks he can be a part of it but not be in it. I think he thinks he can control it but not get his hands dirty. We’re going to find out. I think by the end of Season 3, what we wanna do is set Luke Cage up so we can go forward for another series, or maybe do some other things and spin-off. But ultimately, we want to complete at least one story arc, and then see what happens after that.

That last part is truly interesting. It seems like they might end Luke Cage after its third season and simply spin it off into a completely new series. It kind of makes sense with the “film” format that Jeph Loeb has used to describe these series. They might end the Netflix series with their third season as if ending a film trilogy. We will know soon enough as Daredevil enters its third season and if it gets renewed. Still, this also seems like a good hint at a potential Heroes for Hire series that would finally give us another team-up between the shows. There is also no reason they couldn’t return to their respective series after a few crossover seasons. It would be similar to how they approached The Defenders. It will be interesting to see what the future of these shows has in store for us.

What do you think they’ll do in a third season? What series do you think he could be hinting at?

Source: Talkies Network