Invincible has proven to be a ground-breaking new series for Prime Video ever since it debuted on the platform back in 2021, but season 6 takes things to a whole other level. With the rise of streaming platforms, the way that TV shows are consumed has been forever changed, and this also has an impact on how new shows are made, both for good and bad.
With companies like Netflix, Prime Video, and Apple now being such a pivotal part of what new TV shows are made, it's proven immensely challenging for any sort of fictional TV series to go beyond a handful of seasons. While reality TV shows thrive on repeating the same process season after season, other shows have to hit a series of qualifications to get renewed, and more often than not, shows get canceled by season 3 or so.
However, Invincible has just achieved a major milestone with the renewal for season 6, making this series the longest-running animated show on Prime Video. While shows like Bosch ran for seven seasons and landed a three-season spin-off, and The Boys managed to run for five seasons, Invincible has made history for animated shows on Prime Video and streaming more broadly.
Invincible is a series inspired by the Image Comics series of the same name, written by Robert Kirkman, who also created The Walking Dead comics. And while Kirkman's incredible writing has clearly led to lengthy series runs, as seen with The Walking Dead running for a total of 11 seasons and now spawning a whole host of spin-offs, Invincible struggled to get the same recognition early on.
In 2008, MTV made a TV adaptation of the series, which was built as a motion comic story utilizing the original comic panels with some added animation, effects, and voice acting. But despite being the same story, it wasn't until Prime Video stepped up and began creating the series that it got a widespread audience with raving reviews.
Now, Invincible stands out for not only being a great comic book adaptation in animation, but also among the whole host of superhero TV shows, where it continues to rank highly with great live-action shows. And Amazon's faith in the show to renew it for a sixth season speaks to how well the series is performing, not just in terms of reviews, but also with the overall reception and watch time on the platform.
While many shows these days fail to move past three seasons, there are significantly fewer that go beyond five seasons. With Invincible smashing both of these milestones, some fans may begin to wonder when the show will inevitably conclude and if the story will start to get stale.
However, it's important to note that despite digging deep into the comic book lore of these characters, the show is still only scratching the surface, considering just how much more there is to the story of Mark Grayson. Between 2003 and 2018, Robert Kirkman worked on no fewer than 144 comic stories for this hero. Beyond that, there are also spin-off stories that focus on other characters in the lineup.
With so much material to draw inspiration from, it's clear that the narrative of Invincible could continue well beyond season 6, and as long as Prime Video continues to see the series draw audiences in, there is no reason to end it.
For now, Invincible landing a sixth season is a major win, and the future looks bright for the series, but there could be a lot more still to come in the future as long as the series continues to deliver one of the most intriguing and unique explorations of a superhero story on TV.
