The second and final season of the American

streaming television Streaming television is the digital distribution of television content, such as TV shows, as streaming media delivered over the Internet. Streaming television stands in contrast to dedicated terrestrial television delivered by over-the-air ae ...

series ''

Luke Cage Lucas "Luke" Cage, born Carl Lucas and also known as Power Man, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. He first appeared in ''Luke Cage, Hero for Hire'' #1 (June 1972) and was created by Archie ...

'', which is based on the

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Comics'' in 19 ...

character of the same name, sees

become a hero and celebrity in

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Harl ...

after clearing his name, only to face a new threat. It is set in the

Marvel Cinematic Universe The Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) is an American media franchise and shared universe centered on a series of superhero films produced by Marvel Studios. The films are based on characters that appear in American comic books published ...

(MCU), sharing continuity with

the films The Films were an American indie pop rock band from Charleston, South Carolina, and consisted of Michael Trent, Kenneth Harris, Jake Sinclair, and Adam Blake. The band members met in high school and in 2006 recorded/produced the EP ''Being Bored ...

and other television series of the franchise. The season was produced by

Marvel Television Marvel Television was an American television production company responsible for live-action and animated (through Marvel Animation) television shows and direct-to-DVD series based on characters from Marvel Comics. The division was based at affi ...

in association with

ABC Studios ABC Signature is an American television production studio that is a subsidiary of Disney Television Studios, a division of Walt Disney Television, which is part of the Disney General Entertainment Content division of The Walt Disney Company. ...

, with Cheo Hodari Coker serving as

showrunner A showrunner (or colloquially a helmer) is the top-level executive producer of a television series production who has creative and management authority through combining the responsibilities of employer and, in comedy or dramas, typically also the ...

Mike Colter Mike Randal Colter (born August 26, 1976) is an American actor best known for his role as Luke Cage in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appearing in the streaming television series ''Luke Cage'' (2016–2018), '' The Defenders'' (2017), and '' Jes ...

stars as Cage, alongside returning principal cast members Simone Missick, Theo Rossi, and

Alfre Woodard Alfre Woodard (; born November 8, 1952) is an American actress. She has received various accolades, including four Primetime Emmy Awards (tying the record for the most acting Emmys won by an African-American performer, along with Regina King) ...

. They are joined by Gabrielle Dennis and Mustafa Shakir, with Jessica Henwick,

Finn Jones Finn Jones (born Terence Jones; 24 March 1988) is an English actor known for his roles as Loras Tyrell in the HBO series ''Game of Thrones'' (2011–2016) and Danny Rand / Iron Fist in the Netflix television shows ''Iron Fist'' (2017–2018), ...

, and Stephen Rider reprising their roles from other Marvel Netflix series;

Rosario Dawson Rosario Isabel Dawson (born May 9, 1979) is an American actress. She made her feature-film debut in the 1995 independent drama ''Kids''. Her subsequent film roles include ''He Got Game'' (1998), '' Josie and the Pussycats'' (2001), ''Men in Bl ...

also returns in a guest role. The season was ordered in December 2016, and filmed in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

from June to November 2017. Coker again emphasized music in the season:

Adrian Younge Adrian Younge (born May 7, 1978) is an American composer, arranger and music producer based in the Los Angeles area. Background Younge grew up in Fontana, California. His father is a lawyer and Younge himself earned a Juris Doctor degree fro ...

and Ali Shaheed Muhammad returned to compose the original score, using blues and reggae to represent the conflict between the Stokes family and Shakir's John "Bushmaster" McIver; the season again features performances from various artists; and each episode is named after a Pete Rock & CL Smooth song. Reg E. Cathey has a recurring role as Cage's father in one of his last performances, and the season is dedicated to his memory. The season premiered on June 21, 2018, before all 13 episodes were released on

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...

on June 22. It was widely praised as better than the first season, particularly for its narrative and cast—Woodard's performance especially—though there was again some criticism for its pacing. Netflix canceled the series on October 19, 2018.

Episodes

Cast and characters

Main

* Simone Missick as Mercedes "Misty" Knight * Theo Rossi as Hernan "Shades" Alvarez * Gabrielle Dennis as

Tilda Johnson Tilda Johnson, introduced as the Queen of the Werewolves and also known as Dr. Nightshade, Deadly Nightshade, or simply Nightshade, is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Introduced as a supervillai ...

* Mustafa Shakir as John "Bushmaster" McIver *

as Mariah Stokes-Dillard

Featured

* Jessica Henwick as

Colleen Wing Colleen Wing is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Descended from a family of samurai, Wing is a Japanese martial artist who avenged her grandfather's death with the help of the superhero Iron Fis ...

as Danny Rand / Iron Fist * Stephen Rider as Blake Tower

Recurring

* Reg E. Cathey as James Lucas *

Ron Cephas Jones Ron Cephas Jones (born January 8, 1957) is an American actor. He is best known for his role in the drama series ''This Is Us'' (2016–2022), which earned him four consecutive Primetime Emmy Award nominations, winning twice for Outstanding Guest ...

as Bobby Fish * Peter Jay Fernandez as

Tom Ridenhour ''Luke Cage (TV series), Luke Cage'' is an American streaming television series created for Netflix by Cheo Hodari Coker, based on the Marvel Comics character Luke Cage, of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing c ...

* Dorian Crossmon Missick as Dontrell "Cockroach" Hamilton * Kevin Mambo as Sheldon * Thomas Q. Jones as Darius "Comanche" Jones * Jeremiah Richard Craft as

D. W. Griffith David Wark Griffith (January 22, 1875 – July 23, 1948) was an American film director. Considered one of the most influential figures in the history of the motion picture, he pioneered many aspects of film editing and expanded the art of the na ...

* Chaz Lamar Shepherd as Raymond "Piranha" Jones * Sean Ringgold as Sugar * Tarah Rodgers as Stephanie / Billie *

Sahr Ngaujah Michael Sahr Ngaujah (born September 7, 1976) is an American theater actor and director. Not long after his parents arrival from Sierra Leone via UK, Sahr was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Within five years his family relocated to Atlanta. He spen ...

as Paul "Anansi" Mackintosh * Danny Johnson as

Benjamin Donovan ''Daredevil'' is an American streaming television series created for Netflix by Drew Goddard, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of th ...

* Antonique Smith as

Nandi Tyler '' Luke Cage'' is an American streaming television series created for Netflix by Cheo Hodari Coker, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films o ...

* Justin Swain as Mark Bailey * Heather Alicia Simms as

Ingrid Mackintosh '' Luke Cage'' is an American streaming television series created for Netflix by Cheo Hodari Coker, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films o ...

* John Clarence Stewart as Alex Wesley * Karen Pittman as

Priscilla Ridley ''Luke Cage'' is an American streaming television series created for Netflix by Cheo Hodari Coker, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films of ...

Notable guests

Claire Temple Claire Temple is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She is a medical doctor primarily affiliated with the superhero Luke Cage and is one of his early love interests. Starting in 2015, a version ...

* Elden Henson as

Foggy Nelson Franklin Percy "Foggy" Nelson is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character has been depicted as part of the supporting cast of Daredevil (Matt Murdock); Foggy is Matt's best friend and, for ...

* Frank Whaley as

Rafael Scarfe Sabra Sabreclaw Sabreclaw is a character in the MC2 universe who first appeared in '' J2'' #8 (May 1999). He is the half-brother of Wild Thing and the son of Wolverine. The character has claws (similar to Sabretooth), a healing factor, enh ...

Darius Kaleb Darius Kaleb is an American actor and musician that achieved recognition through his role in the Netflix original ''Luke Cage'', as well as playing parts in multiple shows on Broadway. Kaleb also featured in a Japanese live show tour as a fictional ...

Lonnie Wilson Lonnie Wilson is an American drummer, songwriter, and record producer, known primarily for his work in country music. Born in Monroe, Louisiana, Wilson was originally the lead singer of the band Bandana, which charted ten singles on the Hot C ...

Tijuana Ricks Tijuana Ricks (born in Metairie, Louisiana) is an American actress. Education After graduating from Washington University in St. Louis where she received her degree in psychology and performing arts, she attended the Yale School of Drama and re ...

Thembi Wallace '' Luke Cage'' is an American streaming television series created for Netflix by Cheo Hodari Coker, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films o ...

* Jade Wu as

Connie Lin '' Luke Cage'' is an American streaming television series created for Netflix by Cheo Hodari Coker, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films o ...

* Andrew Pang as

Donnie Chang '' Luke Cage'' is an American streaming television series created for Netflix by Cheo Hodari Coker, based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. It is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), sharing continuity with the films o ...

Joniece Abbott-Pratt Joniece Abbott-Pratt is an American actor and audiobook narrator. Her narrations have won her 14 Earphones Awards from ''AudioFile''. Along with co-narrators, she also won the 2022 Audie Award for Short Stories or Collections for '' Blackout ...

as Esther "Etta" Lucas * Rob Morgan as

Turk Barrett Turk Barrett is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character is usually depicted in stories featuring Daredevil, in which his inept schemes are played as comic relief. Barrett was a recurring ...

* LaTanya Richardson Jackson as "Mama Mabel" Stokes * Curtiss Cook as "Pistol Pete" Stokes *

Henry Yuk Henry Yuk is an American actor known for his roles on numerous television shows. Yuk has also frequently appeared in Broadway plays. The son of immigrants from Guangdong, Yuk was born and raised in Brooklyn. After graduating from Midwood High ...

as Hai-Qing Yang * Jayden D. Brown as

Cornell "Cottonmouth" Stokes Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to t ...

* Ninja Devoe as Aisha Axton * Cassandra Freeman as

Patricia Wilson Patricia Grace Wilson (17 December 1929 – 2005) was a British writer of 53 romance novels for the Mills & Boon publisher from 1986 to 2004. She placed her novels primarily in England, Spain or France France (), officially the Fr ...

* Sedly Bloomfield as Joel Spurlock

Production

Development

In January 2015,

CCO Ted Sarandos stated the series was "eligible to go into multiple seasons for sure" and Netflix would look at "how well heyare addressing both the Marvel fanbase but also the broader fanbase" in terms of determining if additional seasons would be appropriate. In July 2015, Sarandos said some of the Defenders series would "selectively have multiple seasons as they come out of the gate." Regarding a second season, showrunner Cheo Hodari Coker stated he had "a few ideas", including possibly exploring the "Hero for Hire" aspect of

, though noted he was not taking "any of this for granted" in terms of feeling a second season renewal from Netflix was guaranteed. Actor

also felt "

Heroes for Hire Heroes for Hire are a superhero team appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The team first appeared in '' Power Man and Iron Fist'' #54 (December 1978), and was created by Ed Hannigan and Lee Elias Lee Elias (May 21, 19 ...

" could be explored in future seasons, as well as further exploring Cage's lifestyle change regarding his relationship with Jessica Jones and introducing the couple's daughter. In December 2016, Netflix renewed the series for a second season, of 13 episodes. Coker compared the season to

A Tribe Called Quest A Tribe Called Quest was an American hip hop group formed in Queens, New York City, in 1985,Q-Tip

's second album ''

The Low End Theory ''The Low End Theory'' is the second studio album by American hip-hop group A Tribe Called Quest, released on September 24, 1991, by Jive Records. Recording sessions for the album were held mostly at Battery Studios in New York City, from 1990 to ...

'' saying, their first album '' People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm'' "was great, but then ''Low End Theory'' was the record that everyone says ... when they think of A Tribe Called Quest taking it to the next level. That's my hope for season 2, is that we have some of the similar sounds, but we go in a deeper direction." Coker also noted that music would continue to be an important element for the season and that

would still be "at the heart and its center" for the series.

Writing

In July 2017, Colter said the writing for the season was different from the first, because "we know the show now. We know the world that we're in and we know sort of what works and what doesn't work and we're just gonna double down on that stuff, so look forward to a very exciting and very relevant and pop culture-heavy show." He added that after the first season and the crossover miniseries '' The Defenders'', Cage would have "a whole new outlook on life" and would not be dealing with the judicial system anymore. Coker explained that the storyline for the season did not come from any particular iteration of the comics, and instead was based on the characters that appear: "who is Luke Cage and getting much deeper into that, but also finding out different things about Mariah Dillard, also finding out things about Misty Knight," including getting her mechanical arm "and what that entails from an emotional standpoint." In particular, the new villains introduced for the season and their abilities impacted the story in terms of "what that represents against Luke". Each episode of the season is named after a Pete Rock & CL Smooth song, just as Coker named each episode of the first season after a

Gang Starr Gang Starr was an American hip hop duo, consisting of Texas record producer DJ Premier and Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett language, Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut assachusett writing systems, məhswatʃəwiːsət'' English: ...

song.

Casting

returns to star as

, along with Simone Missick as Mercedes "Misty" Knight,

as Mariah Stokes-Dillard, and Theo Rossi as Hernan "Shades" Alvarez. In July 2017, Marvel announced the casting of Mustafa Shakir as John "Bushmaster" McIver, and Gabrielle Dennis as

. Thomas Q. Jones reprises his role as Darius "Comanche" Jones in the season, along with Danny Johnson as

, and Justin Swain as Mark Bailey. In October 2017, it was revealed that

would be reprising his role as Danny Rand / Iron Fist in the season. Colter explained that there had been interest from fans to see more of the previously established relationship between Cage and Jessica Jones, but for this season they "went out on a limb" and decided to give to the fans of the "Heroes for Hire" instead by having Cage and Rand team up for part of the season. He added that Finn Jones "will bring some fresh blood in the new season". Jessica Henwick also reprises her ''Iron Fist'' role, appearing as

. Following the death of Reg E. Cathey in February 2018, Marvel revealed that his final performance was as Luke Cage's father James Lucas in this season. The character appeared briefly in the first season portrayed by an unnamed actor. In March 2018,

Annabella Sciorra Annabella Gloria Philomena Sciorra ( , ; born March 29, 1960) is an American actress. She came to prominence with her film debut in '' True Love'' (1989), earning an Independent Spirit nomination for Best Female Lead. Subsequent projects includ ...

was announced to have been cast in the "key role" of

Rosalie Carbone Tatiana Caban Bethany Cabe Caber Caber is one of the Celtic gods of Avalon, a warrior god. Caber is a good friend to Leir and usually accompanies him in battle. Cable Danielle Cage Danielle "Dani" Cage is a fictional character in Marvel ...

. The next month, Antonique Smith joined the cast as Detective

, a longtime rival of Misty Knight. Additionally, Elden Henson reprises his role as

from previous Marvel/Netflix series. The season also features

cameo appearance A cameo role, also called a cameo appearance and often shortened to just cameo (), is a brief appearance of a well-known person in a work of the performing arts. These roles are generally small, many of them non-speaking ones, and are commonly ei ...

s by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

personalities Michael Smith, Jemele Hill, and Stephen A. Smith, and New York Jets head coach

Todd Bowles Todd Robert Bowles (born November 18, 1963) is an American football coach and former player who is the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the head coach of the New York Jets. He ...

, doubling as the head coach of the fictional Harlem Jets. As Coker is a sports fan, he decided to include the ESPN personalities and was partially motivated to reach out to Michael Smith and Hill out of "professional admiration". Coker noted the additional difficulty in getting the duo to appear because of Marvel's confidentiality requirements, meaning they could not see the scripts beforehand. Dialogue was written for the personalities, though each improvised some of it to make it sound like their own voice. Before reaching out to Bowles, Coker was going to ask David Shaw, head coach of the Stanford University Cardinal football team, since Shaw and Coker were college roommates, but the timing did not work out, as Shaw was recruiting students on the other side of the country. Coker then approached former Jets head coach Herm Edwards, since Edwards had one of Coker's "favorite coach meltdowns of all time", but Edwards also could not coordinate an appearance, resulting Coker approaching Bowles. Writer, author, and educator Jelani Cobb also cameos in the season, appearing as himself on a talk show speaking to Luke Cage's ability to fix Harlem. Cobb, who has "an ambivalent relationship" to the character of Luke Cage, "went back and forth" on whether he would appear in the season. He noted, "I really like the show and thought it'd be a fun thing to do, but I also think that sometimes it's important for journalists to keep a separate line from what they're actually doing versus the imaginary stuff that they're doing, especially in the era of

fake news Fake news is false or misleading information presented as news. Fake news often has the aim of damaging the reputation of a person or entity, or making money through advertising revenue.Schlesinger, Robert (April 14, 2017)"Fake news in realit ...

." Cobb discussed the potential appearances with "some of the people I respect in the field" for their opinion, and after gaining their approval, agreed to appear.

Filming

Principal photography began by June 10, 2017, under the series'

working title A working title, which may be abbreviated and styled in trade publications after a putative title as (wt), also called a production title or a tentative title, is the temporary title of a product or project used during its development, usually ...

''Tiara''. Production wrapped that November.

Music

In July 2017, Colter said that the second season would have "another feel to it" in terms of the music, praising the season's musical guests and explaining that he and Coker had chosen a "certain type" of music for the season after listening to it at a birthday party and agreeing that there had "not been one bad song" played. Coker later explained that the season would explore the roots of hip-hop with blues and reggae, after the first season introduced hip-hop to the MCU. He added that the season would explore "the entire diaspora of black music" along with different cultures.

and Ali Shaheed Muhammad again composed the score for the season, working out of Younge's studio Linear Labs. Their music for the season included a "50-minute epic" for one of the episodes. Coker described the pair as being as "important to the success of the show as anyone in the cast, anyone directing, anyone writing, producing, period." Coker wanted to have live musical performances in the season again after the first, and hoped that some musicians who had turned him down for the first season would be happy to join the second after getting to see the series. He noted that the idea of performing in the series was not a "home run in terms of the music community" during the first season, and he had to call in a lot of favors from his time as a music journalist to get the performers who did appear. For the second season, he was able to show footage of the first season performances as well as point out where musicians who performed on the show received "immediate streaming bumps" from fans discovering them through the series. With Coker subsequently having his "choice of acts", the season includes live performance from

Faith Evans Faith Renée Evans (born June 10, 1973) is an American singer and actress. Born in Lakeland, Florida, and raised in New Jersey, she relocated to Los Angeles in 1991 for a career in the music business. After working as a backing vocalist for Al ...

, returning from the first season, along with Joi & D-Nice, Gary Clark Jr.,

Esperanza Spalding Esperanza Emily Spalding (born October 18, 1984) is an American bassist, singer, songwriter, and composer. Her accolades include five Grammy Awards, a Boston Music Award, and a Soul Train Music Award. A native of Portland, Oregon, Spalding be ...

, Christone "Kingfish" Ingram,

Ghostface Killah Dennis Coles (born May 9, 1970), better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and a member of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success in the aftermath of ''Enter the Wu-Tang (36 C ...

Stephen Marley Stephen Robert Nesta Marley (born April 20, 1972) is a Jamaican-American musician. The son of Bob Marley, Marley is an eight-time Grammy Award winner, three times as a solo artist, twice as a producer of his younger paternal half-brother Dam ...

Jadakiss Jason Terrance Phillips (born May 27, 1975), better known by his stage name Jadakiss, is an American rapper from Yonkers, New York. He began his career in the 1990s as a member of the rap trio The Lox, managed by Ruff Ryders and signed with B ...

KRS-One Lawrence "Kris" Parker (born August 20, 1965), better known by his stage names KRS-One (; an abbreviation of "Knowledge Reigns Supreme Over Nearly Everyone") and Teacha, is an American rapper from New York City. He rose to prominence as part of ...

, and

Rakim William Michael Griffin Jr. (born January 28, 1968), better known by his stage name Rakim Allah or simply Rakim (), is an American rapper and record producer. One half of golden age hip hop duo Eric B. & Rakim, he is widely regarded as one of ...

. The latter wrote an original song for the series, which he performs in the season finale. The season also includes music from

Nina Simone Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), known professionally as Nina Simone (), was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blue ...

and

Mobb Deep Mobb Deep was an American hip hop duo from New York City. The duo consisted of rappers Prodigy and Havoc. They are considered to be among the principal progenitors of hardcore East Coast hip hopEdwards, Paul, 2009, '' How to Rap: The Art & Sci ...

Marvel Cinematic Universe tie-ins

Following the death of Captain Ridenhour, high-ranking detective

Brigid O'Reilly M-11 Originally known as the Human Robot, the character was given the name "M-11" in the 2006 to 2007 '' Agents of Atlas'' miniseries as an allusion to its first appearance in '' Menace'' #11 from Marvel Comics' 1950s predecessor, Atlas Comics. ...

is mentioned as having recently moved to New Orleans, in reference to that character's role in the series '' Cloak & Dagger''.

Marketing

An advanced screening of the season was hosted by

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

, and the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

on June 19, followed by an after-party featuring musical performances by KRS-One, Younge and Muhammad, and surprise guests. The season had its red carpet premiere in New York City on June 21, 2018.

Release

The second season of ''Luke Cage'' was released on June 22, 2018, on the streaming service

worldwide, in Ultra HD 4K and

high dynamic range High dynamic range (HDR) is a dynamic range higher than usual, synonyms are wide dynamic range, extended dynamic range, expanded dynamic range. The term is often used in discussing the dynamic range of various signals such as images, videos, ...

. The season, along with the additional ''Luke Cage'' season and the other Marvel Netflix series, was removed from Netflix on March 1, 2022, due to Netflix's license for the series ending and Disney regaining the rights. The season became available on

Disney+ The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October 1 ...

in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia, and New Zealand on March 16, ahead of its debut in Disney+'s other markets by the end of 2022.

Reception

Critical response

The review aggregation website

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wan ...

reported an 85% approval rating, with an average rating of 7.20/10 based on 62 reviews. The website's critical consensus reads, "''Marvel's Luke Cage'' surpasses the successes of its debut season with a satisfyingly complex narrative and a solid ensemble cast led by Alfre Woodard's standout performance as the archvillainess Black Mariah."

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

, which uses a weighted average, assigned a score of 64 out of 100 based on 13 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Awarding the "excellent" season four stars out of five, Olly Richards of ''

Empire An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...

'' said, "Most of Marvel's superhero series suffer a mid-season sag, without enough plot to fill their episode quota. This season never succumbs to that because it's not rooted in plot but character. There are episodes where little happens in terms of event, but characters deepen and crack, becoming less who they want to be and more who they have to be, even Luke. ''Luke Cage'' could now remove any superhero elements almost entirely and still function as a series." David Betancourt of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'' felt the season was "spectacular, full of unforgettable performances, and has not one but two top-notch villains". Though he felt the season started slow, the later episodes are "where the magic happens". Alison Keene at ''

Collider A collider is a type of particle accelerator which brings two opposing particle beams together such that the particles collide. Colliders may either be ring accelerators or linear accelerators. Colliders are used as a research tool in particle ...

'' felt the "last few episodes are fantastic — it just takes a lot to get there." Keene also felt "There are plenty of things this season does well, really well, but there is so much filler and narrative dragging of feet in between that it's hard to recommend it outright," awarding the season three stars out of four. CNN's Brian Lowry was more critical of the season, feeling the season was "weaker" than the first, noting it was "not bad, overall, but still experiencing the equivalent of a sophomore slump." Similar to Lowry, Alan Sepinwall at ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its co ...

'' gave the season two stars out of four, noting the 13-episode season had "only three or four episodes' worth of story at best".

Accolades

, - ! scope="row" rowspan="2" , 2017 , rowspan="2" ,

Hollywood Music in Media Awards The Hollywood Music In Media Awards (HMMA) is an award organization honoring original music (Song and Score) in all forms visual media including film, TV, video games, trailers, commercial advertisements, documentaries, music videos and special pr ...

, Original Song – TV Show/Limited Series , " Bulletproof Love" for

Method Man Clifford Smith, Jr. (born March 2, 1971), better known by his stage name Method Man, is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, and actor. He is known as a member of the East Coast hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He is also half of ...

, , , - , Main Title Theme – TV Show/Limited Series , Ali Shaheed Muhammad and

, , , - ! scope="row" , 2018 ,

People's Choice Awards The People's Choice Awards is an American awards show, recognizing people in entertainment, voted online by the general public and fans. The show has been held annually since 1975, with the winners originally determined using Gallup Polls unt ...

, The Sci-Fi/Fantasy Show of 2018 , ''Luke Cage'' , , , - ! scope="row" rowspan="2" , 2019 , rowspan="2" , Black Reel TV Awards , Outstanding Guest Actor, Drama Series ,

, , , - , Outstanding Actress in a Drama Series ,

, ,

Notes

References

External links

* {{Luke Cage 02 2018 American television seasons