Soulmates has been canceled by AMC despite already having been renewed. In recent months, the streaming and television landscape has shifted considerably, with Netflix consolidating their lineup after dropping subscribers for the first time in years, The CW taking the axe to a huge swath of series after being sold off, and both HBO Max and Paramount+ quietly removing series from their services during mergers. The darkest trend born from this tumultuous period has been the recurring cancelation of series that were already renewed, including I Am Not Okay With This and Inside Job at Netflix and Dexter: New Blood at Showtime.
Per The Hollywood Reporter, AMC has reversed their 2020 decision to greenlight Soulmates season 2. The anthology series, which follows various guest stars using a near-future testing service to find their soulmate, originally premiered in October 2020 and was renewed before its first episode dropped. According to the network, the viewership numbers did not reflect their original expectations.
What Does a Show Have to Do to Survive These Days?
One thing that is shocking about the Soulmates cancelation is the fact that many of the figures involved have had their star rise even further since it originally premiered. For instance, the show’s co-creator Brett Goldstein now holds two Emmys for his work on the hit Apple TV+ comedy Ted Lasso and episode stars Sarah Snook and Bill Skarsgård have continued to score hits with Succession and Barbarian respectively. While Goldstein’s increasingly busy schedule is reportedly a factor in the show’s cancelation, it is clear that the television landscape is becoming an increasingly brutal place.
At the moment, it seems that there are only two types of shows that survive. Much like theatrical features, big blockbuster hits tend to do well, including rival fantasy prequels like Prime Video’s The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power and HBO’s Game of Thrones spinoff House of the Dragon. However, having an established IP and a huge budget didn’t save the HBO sci-fi series Westworld, which was recently canceled and then removed from streaming entirely.
Other series that seem to be doing well are on the exact opposite end of the budget spectrum. Low budget series that become word of mouth hits, like the unscripted Netflix program The Circle or the scripted but inexpensive LGBTQ+ romance Heartstopper, also seem to have earned confidence from the powers that be. However, shows right in the middle like Soulmates may continue to be battered about in the meantime while the dust settles.
Source: THR