Thus far, Marvel’s Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and Luke Cage have all had 13-episode seasons on Netflix, thereby proving the old truism that every superhero story should be broken up into a baker’s dozen of streaming-service installments, just like they used to do back in the old country. However, it now looks like upcoming crossover series The Defenders will buck that trend, instead choosing to follow Stranger Things’ lead by having the story dictate the number of episodes, rather than the other way around. When Matt Murdock, Jessica, Luke, and Danny Rand meet up, things are going to happen quickly: Empire reports the superhero show, in which our four heroes will probably get into a snippy conversation about who possesses the most tortured soul, will consist of only eight installments, the better to get to all the punching and kicking and flipping and iron fisting.
In addition, the series is already lining up directors to helm this limited-run season. S.J. Clarkson, who shot the first and second episodes of Jessica Jones, has signed up to lens the first couple Defenders, as well. There’s still no word on a launch date (Iron Fist comes out March 17, 2017), but a fall premiere seems likely, as does a story set in New York City, unless the show decides to ditch this whole “Big Apple superheroes only” thing and make them all travel to Weehawken to fight Stilt-Man, or something.