Paramount Network has cancelled Heathers ahead of its planned 2018 premiere, Per THR.
Production on the 10-episode first season of the anthology reboot has long since wrapped, however, the network has opted not to air the series, which was pushed from its original March 7 premiere in wake of the Parkland school shooting.
Keith Cox, Paramount Network president of development and production, said of the decision to axe Heathers:
To be clear, I love this series and I believe in the franchise. It’s an anthology and was unique for us. The goal is not to scrap it but sell it. We shot this in November 2016 for TV Land. We’ve been working on this for a couple years. The cultural landscape has changed so fast. After Parkland, we as a company — which I applaud — we were in unison with the National School Walkout and went dark for 17 minutes [across all Viacom channels]. We were going to air and we paused that. It was the right thing to do — Viacom’s brands are youth brands. We have a unique relationship with youth and this movement after Parkland was so big and kept growing and we’ve been a partner in that. We were going to air in March and hit pause and then had Santa Fe. We knew we were doing a very bold show that pushes boundaries. It’s a satire but it’s very bold. We knew that and then this movement happened and we as a company applauded that movement. This was a very difficult decision. We had multiple meetings, and in the end, we didn’t feel comfortable right now airing the series and I’m not sure when there might be a time that we as a youthful brand at Viacom would feel comfortable. That said, we are very diligently trying to sell this because we believe in the show.
Cox says the series, including an already-written Season 2, will be shopped elsewhere, with Netflix among those in discussions:
They are definitely in conversations. Absolutely. Out of respect to the producers, we want this to be a franchise and selling it to someone who will maybe do five or six seasons of it was our first job.
Will Heathers rot in Paramount Network’s none-and-done graveyard, or find a new home? Stay tuned for updates. In the meantime, and perhaps forever:
RIP.
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