One of my favorite shows from the panorama will not be returning for season 2. Despite the popularity of Lovecraft Country, HBO has announced that it will not be bringing the show back for season two. The first season was based on the one and only book written by Matt Ruff so perhaps HBO decided to axe a season two due to a lack of original material. But that hasn’t stopped HBO before, see Game of Thrones season seven. Despite this announcement being a shock to fans, it would seem some of the stars like Jurnee Smollett were bracing for it. Here are a few highlights from Variety:
“We will not be moving forward with a second season of ‘Lovecraft Country,’” HBO said in a statement. “We are grateful for the dedication and artistry of the gifted cast and crew, and to Misha Green, who crafted this groundbreaking series. And to the fans, thank you for joining us on this journey.”
The series debuted its first — and now only — season in August 2020. The move to not proceed with more of the series is not altogether unexpected, as the show was based on the solo novel of the same name by Matt Ruff. HBO has made similar decisions with other series, such as “Big Little Lies.” That show only received a second season after the author of the book on which it was based, Liane Moriarty, penned original material to serve as the basis for another season.
The statement was quite short and succinct. I need a better explanation. Like HBO doesn’t have enough diversity in its shows to begin with so why get rid of one the most popular shows on its platform? I understand not having original material to work with but I am sure they could have worked with Matt Ruff. I have looked everywhere to find a clue into why this decision was made and I have found nothing. There were even funny tweets about allies exposing whomever decided to shut down a season two of Lovecraft Country. Many folks seemed blindsided and upset. I know I am. I personally enjoyed talking to you Celebitches about the show when it aired.
The good news is Jonathan Majors will be starring as the villain Kang in the upcoming Ant-Man 3 movie with Marvel. Wunmi Mosaka is starring in the Loki series on Disney+. I hope that Jurnee is up for some projects because she was absolutely great in the show. I also know that Misha Green has a bright future because she was able to create such an amazingly colorful universe with the source materials. Misha was definitely hoping to continue with the show because she recently released her plan for season two, you can see that tweet below. It was upsetting that the cast had made room to film season two in their schedule as they were under the impression that they were greenlit. That is the crappiest part about this announcement. Hopefully HBO will find another program with an all Black cast that has great source material to make up for this loss. Otherwise, it doesn’t look good that a network is willing to order a reboot of an old series that no one asked for like Sex and the City but are unwilling to make a current series with a cult following and diverse cast work.
A few reactions:
#LovecraftCountry earned 1.5M live viewers for its finale. It’s linear audience grew 16% from the debut/ digital performance grew nearly 90%. The first ep drew 10M all platform viewers by the finale. It was also the most watched premiere on HBO Max at the time.
— Brandon Katz (@Great_Katzby) July 3, 2021
i’m really sad about lovecraft country 😔 that was my favorite show
— Chlöe (@ChloeBailey) July 3, 2021
See now I’m pissed…all the corny ass white shows continuously get renewed but well written, beautiful shot fully nuanced black programming always get the axe I’m actually very sick of it 🤬😠 #LovecraftCountry pic.twitter.com/p9PDsomALx
— David (@KoolKidDave) July 2, 2021
A taste of the Season 2 Bible. Wish we could have brought you #LovecraftCountry: Supremacy. Thank you to everyone who watched and engaged. 🖤✊🏾 #noconfederate pic.twitter.com/BONbSfbjWg
— Misha Green (@MishaGreen) July 3, 2021
To whoever decided to cancel Season 2 of Lovecraft Country #lovecraftcountry pic.twitter.com/QPzIaXUeyj
— Sean (@ConcusSean) July 2, 2021
Photos via Instagram
Would much prefer another season of love craft over the sex and the city shenanigans. Good point, Oya.
No show should be cancelled to make room for SATC, the reboot literally no one is asking for.
Seriously. I cringe just thinking about the outdated vehicle for SJP’s vanity. I bet her NYC will continue to be a place where there are no POC or sticker shock on the price of anything.
I really wanted to like it, and thought the actors were generally excellent and the show looked absolutely gorgeous, but I thought it was terrible. Bad plotting, bad pacing, bad writing that got progressively worse as the season progressed. Not that that stops shows with majority white casts and creative teams being renewed, of course. But what I did really like was seeing a period show that told a different sort of African American story, not focusing on slavery or crime, and I hope it’s done enough to prove that audiences want different sorts of stories and characters so we can start getting those.
agree with everything you say!! really wanted to like it for all the reasons you say above plus I’m a big HP Lovecraft fan, but it just fell flat for me and I got bored.
Wunmi Mosaka was great in Loki too! Hunter B15 my darling 🙂
Agreed, I wanted to love it and I really liked the first three episodes, but the fourth episode (the Indiana Jones-style one) really was a disappointment I couldn’t get over. There were too many conveniences, the writing wasn’t strong, and the character motivations, especially for Tic’s dad, didn’t make any sense. I am sad it’s getting cancelled, though, I was hoping it would improve with the second season.
I totally agree. This is right up my ally genre-wise and with the creatives behind it I thought I would love it. But the exposition was WAY too much and so heavy-handed that I found it hard to get through episodes, and didn’t finish the season.
Very sad to hear this. Everybody I know was watching this. I guess I will go and read the book now.
You may be disappointed, I found the book very slow compared to the show. I liked the book because I read it before I saw the show. I might not feel the same way if I had seen it first.
Interesting. I will start with a sample in my Kindle and see how it goes. Thank you!
Methinks HBO was too scared to tell the story Misha Green wanted to tell in Season 2.
Exactly this. So disappointed but not surprised. Maybe there’s a way that season two can be picked up/optioned (?) by another company. The Mindy Project and other shows have done this where they were cancelled in their original spot and then picked back up in a different network. Fingers crossed. This show was *everything*. I felt physical healing happening in my body and spirit wathing the scenes with Hippolyta. As a Black woman, this is one of few instances where I felt mainstream media uplifted and healed me, on a spirit and cellular level. Powerful stuff. Too bad HBO has the guts for other material but not for this. Wonderful how much this kind of cancellation is related to the backlash against Critical Race Theory. This is probably bigger than just a show.
i thought the show started off pretty strong (the first episode was the best imo) … but then it got weird.
there was the random korean mythology (which was rather fascinating but failed to connect with the broader plot) + excessive gratuitous brutality + the characters weren’t all that fully developed or interesting.
i’m sure the cast and crew will go on to exciting new projects, but glad they’re stopping it here. plus, the season finale actually had some closure, so…
Since becoming HBOMax, a number of their recent shows (The Third Day, The Outsider, Watchmen, etc.) were only one season, so this doesn’t seem that strange.
I think the difference with GOT is that that story didn’t have a closure so they (very speedily) wrapped it up; badly. LC on the other hand was a finished tale and didn’t need a new chapter, eventhough it would be welcome.
I really thought they did a great job with Lovecraft & I’m sorry to see it go
Ugh this really bums me out, I had really looked forward to where they were gonna go with the story. Bleh
Didn’t watch because no HBOMax, but I’m glad to see limited series stay limited series. I hope HBO learned from GOT that a shitty season of a great show can wipe out the value of the good season. Not that the Lovecraft team wouldn’t have done an excellent season, but not everything has to push on.
Also, there are now nearly two years of unproduced projects backed up in the pipeline. A second season for what was intended as a limited series has to be weighed against the huge backlog currently existing. I hope HBO puts together something new and wonderful from the Lovecraft team in the near future.
For Game of Thrones they did have the major beats of the story’s end from GRRM, so there was source material, just not as fleshed out, which is why it was rushed and sucked. Good Omens was also only going to have one season because there was only one book. It took a couple years before they just now announced a season 2 and only because Gaiman decided to scrounge it together from plans he and Pratchett made before Pratchett passed. So another book, or plans for one, could indeed lead to another series.
This is SUCH a bummer. As others have said, I can;t believe there’s room for more SATC and NOT this.
LC was so different and interesting and important
I’ve read that it was a very toxic work environment and HBO wanted to get away from that. An expose is supposedly in the works.
Not surprised as it was basically unwatchable. Besides of which HP Love Craft was a virulent racist and antisemite, I am not sure why people are still adapting his crap or giving it more airtime.
The show is not a recreation of Lovecraft works. It is named so to reference the fact that Lovecraft was a racist. As well as the stories being set in a supernatural backdrop. Why comment negatively on a show you know nothing about?
They can always, always cancel and/or sabotage to death a Black-led show at the speed of light. It’s fascinating to watch because for every excuse they make about why it had to happen you can find ten white-led show exceptions.
It gets tiring.
I accidentally walked onto the set of this show as it was filming a few years ago while stepping out for some late night tacos. The costumes were gorgeous.
🙁 sad news. I’m glad I get to see Wunmi Mosaka in Loki but her character isn’t written with nearly as much clarity and interiority as in Lovecraft Country. Great show. The Korean war episode had me crying my face off
I love this show! I was blown away by the acting, cinematography, allusions and thematic connections. I felt this show with my whole chest.
Ughhh this sucks! I love the show and the acting, setting and originality. It’s so hard to find shows I like these days. Most fantasy shows fall flat but this one really shone!