Marvel's Wolverine (subtitled The Long Night for Season 1 and The Lost Trail for Season 2) is a audio drama podcast series featuring the Marvel Comics character Wolverine. The show is Marvel's first scripted podcast produced by Marvel New Media and Stitcher. Marvel had previously done some other audio only formats in 1974 with a Fantastic Four radio series and a Spider-Man: Rock Reflections of a Superhero concept album. It was dubbed one of the Best Podcasts of 2018 by Apple while also winning the 2019 iHeartRadio Award for Best Scripted Podcast. A comic adaptation was published by Marvel due to the podcast's success.
In 2021, Marvel New Media and Sirius XM announced Marvel's Wastelanders, a series of podcasts set in a version of the Old Man Logan universe. Marvel's Wastelanders: Wolverine launched in June 2022, featuring Robert Patrick as the voice of Wolverine.
Premise
The Long Night
Federal agents are led to the fictional town of Burns, Alaska working a serial murder case. Logan is the main suspect. The agents will uncover Logan's dual identity and the corruption in the small town. Logan is attempting to escape from society and over the course of the series recover some of his lost memories. He is, however, drawn to execute "frontier justice." Located nearby is the Aurora cult, who may or may not have power or be involved in the murders.
The Lost Trail
The second season, The Lost Trail, finds Wolverine in New Orleans, looking for an ex-lover when humans and mutants start disappearing. Assisted by a young boy, Logan investigates the disappearances, which brings them to encounter "biker gangs;" "Cajun thieves," one of whom is Gambit; and "a world of wonders that defies explanation." The duo find a refuge called Greenhaven led by a powerful mutant, Jason Wyngarde.
Voice cast
The Long Night cast
Richard Armitage as Logan / Wolverine
Celia Keenan-Bolger as Agent Sally Pierce
Ato Essandoh as Agent Tad Marshall
Andrew Keenan-Bolger as Deputy Bobby Reid
Scott Adsit as Sheriff Ridge
Brian Stokes Mitchell as Nicholas Prophet
Bob Balaban as Joseph Langrock
Dante Pereira-Olson as Johnny Moses
The Lost Trail cast
Richard Armitage as Logan / Wolverine
Bill Irwin as Jason Wyngarde / Mastermind
Bill Heck as Remy LeBeau / Gambit
Rodney Henry as Marcus Baptiste
Christina Bennett Lind as Agent Sally Pierce
Blair Brown as Bonnie Roach
Mugga as Ruby Baptiste
Rachael Holmes as Maureen
Episodes
Season 1: The Long Night
Season 2: The Lost Trail
Production
Marvel New Media and Stitcher announced on December 5, 2017 Wolverine: The Long Night was in production for a spring 2018 launch on Stitcher Premium and a wider release in fall 2018. Sound design for the podcast was by Brendan Baker and Chloe Prasinos with some of the recording taking place outside in the appropriate terrain and with actors interacting and moving together. Producers are Daniel Fink for Marvel and Jenny Radelet for Stitcher. The first season's first two episodes debuted on March 12, 2018, on Stitcher with two episode per week to follow; it ended its first season with ten episodes in early May. A teaser trailer for the podcast was also released to promote it.
On November 5, 2018, Marvel and Sticher announced that second season called Wolverine: The Lost Trail has started production with Gambit and Mastermind being added to the story for a first quarter 2019 debut. With the release of its trailer, Marvel indicated that the release date for the second season to be March 25, 2019 with Percy and Baker returning as writer for the season with associate director and sound designer Chloe Prasinos.
Reception
After listening to three episodes, Beth Elderkin of Io9 found the podcast to be "... off on a promising (albeit imperfect) note." "It might not be perfect, and some of the characters and setups might verge on the ridiculous, but it's exciting to experience a comic book universe story in this format." In 2018, Apple named it as one of the "Best Podcasts of the Year" while being in their Top 25 Most Downloaded Podcasts of the Year and Top 25 Most Downloaded New Podcasts of the Year. During the 2019 iHeartRadio Podcast Awards, it won the Best Scripted Podcast.
The Long Night won Best Scripted Podcast at the inaugural iHeartRadio Podcast Awards in January 2019, as well as a 2019 Webby Award for Best Original Music/Sound Design in a Podcast. In addition, Apple included The Long Night on its Best of 2018 podcasts list.