Ghost Rider series with Gabriel Luna fizzles out at Hulu following creative differences

The fire of Hulu's live-action Ghost Rider series with Gabriel Luna has gone out following creative differences between the streaming company and the show's creative team, Deadline has confirmed. Stephen Lightfoot and Paul Zbyszewski were attached as executive producers alongside Marvel Television president Jeph Loeb. Lightfoot was also reportedly going to serve as showrunner.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. version of Ghost Rider quickly became a fan favorite following his introduction to the small-screen MCU, and looked to be one of the most viable spinoff options from the flagship series. It's unclear at this time whether they'll start shopping Reyes' solo adventure around to a new home.

Luna (Terminator: Dark Fate) was all set to reprise the role of Robbie Reyes, which he played on ABC's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. Ghost Rider was one of two horror-centric Marvel projects that were announced for Hulu (now fully owned by Disney) in early May. The second was Helstrom, which is still arriving next year, and is set to follow the two children of a powerful serial killer. Luna reacted to the cancellation news with a poignant Instagram post of Robbie's Ghost Rider comics giving a thumbs up in the comics, writing:

"To everyone who loves Robbie and Ghost Rider, THANK YOU. I’ve had the time of my life playing those two guys and I was ready to rock on the new show. The news was surprising, but I’ve always known that the nature of this business is that until you’re there, on the day, doing the thing it could still go away. Even then, that next day on the job ain’t guaranteed. Thanks to Loeb, @marvel, @felipesmithart and everyone who helped bring Robbie to life on the page and the screen. I’m focused now on our promotions for @terminator. We’ll be bringing Terminator: Dark Fate to theaters in just over a month! Hope to see everyone there when it opens on The Day of The Dead, Nov. 1st!"

"We started having the same conversation [with Hulu], which was there in the comic book world [with] the Spirit of Vengeance, and they are this sort of unusual group of characters, which involve Ghost Rider, which involve Helstrom, which involve Helstrom’s sister, Anna. We suddenly saw that there were three or four shows that we could put together that we now refer to as Adventure Into Fear," Loeb told Deadline in August.

Even without the Spirit of Vengenace riding his hot rod onto Hulu, the streamer's still got plenty of Marvel material to work with, like Runaways, Marvel’s M.O.D.O.K, Marvel’s Hit-Monkey, Marvel’s Tigra & Dazzler Show, and Marvel’s Howard the Duck. Those last four are all animated series that will begin to premiere in 2020 — the plan being for them to all cross over into one special entitled Marvel's Offenders.

Season 3 of Runaways drops on Hulu Friday, Dec. 13.