Amy Rutberg says "people high up" at Marvel were shocked by the decision.

Viewers were surprised by the cancellation of “Daredevil” last month; so was the cast. Charlie Cox called it “painful,” and now his castmate Amy Rutberg has said that even “people high up at Marvel” were shocked by the move — and that Netflix was solely responsible for the decision.

“My contacts at Marvel were very surprised. Any of the rumors that it was a Marvel decision are wrong, I think it was purely a Netflix decision. That comes from personal conversations with people high up at Marvel. They were surprised,” said Rutberg in an Inverse interview.

“We had heard rumors we would start production as early as February 2019,” she said. “It’s a little unusual to be that far ahead in the planning and cancel the show, which makes me think Netflix was laboring over whether or not to cancel it. My guess was it was not an easy decision.”

“Daredevil” was the third Marvel/Netflix series to be canceled in just over a month, following the axing of both “Iron Fist” and “Luke Cage.” Of the four shows whose heroes teamed up for “Defenders,” only “Jessica Jones” remains. Rutberg also confirmed that the contract between Marvel and Netflix prevents any Defenders characters from appearing on other platforms for the time being.

“There is this very real contract with Netflix,” she said. “I had heard 18 months, maybe it’s two years. I suppose it’s possible that Marvel could buy them out, but I have not heard so much as a whisper.”

Sam Ernst, a writer on “Daredevil,” was similarly surprised last month:

Had a last lunch yesterday with the Daredevil writers. Sushi provided by our Captain, @erikoleson. Marvel execs there too, just as stunned as we were. More than lunch, really: a wake. A show gets cancelled, all those characters we love die. Why I hate my job. Why I love it, too. — Sam Ernst (@havensam) December 1, 2018

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