The Most Disappointing TV Cancellations of 2024

TV giveth, and TV taketh. And taketh, and taketh, and taketh. Studios and networks went into contraction mode in 2024, slowing down their strategy of "let's just make a bunch of TV and see what happens" and cutting costs wherever they could. Usually, that meant canceling some of our favorite shows. 

As we look back on the year, we mourn the shows that we loved that got the worst news. Our list contains a sentimental favorite that showed us the power of friendship and community, a slick procedural that examined the depths of evil, an out-of-this-world animated series that excelled through endless creativity, and many more. 

Everyone I knew who watched This Fool loved it. The problem? Too many people I talked to had never heard of it. The Hulu comedy lasted two great seasons, following the eternally grumpy man-child Julio (co-creator Chris Estrada) as he worked at a South Central Los Angeles program that helped ex-cons get back on their feet. The juxtaposition of tough guys in incredibly silly situations never got old.

What do you get when you bend the rules of YA romantic period pieces? A one-season cancellation. My Lady Jane was a delightfully bizarre take on a genre that exploded with the success of Bridgerton, featuring characters who not only navigated the various crusts of elite society but also... turned into animals. Despite solid reviews (with a Metacritic score of 71), the series, which premiered in June, was canceled in August. 

The adaptation of Gene Luen Yang's 2006 graphic novel was a welcome addition to Disney+'s lineup because of how it traversed cultural boundaries, brought the point of view of Asian-American youth to the mainstream, and incorporated Chinese mythology, but despite positive reviews, American Born Chinese was canceled after just one season. I guess America just isn't ready for one of the oldest folk legends in history.  

We'll really miss Robert and Michelle King's wickedly clever horror series Evil, which ended after four seasons, first on CBS and then on Paramount+. It got to go out on its own terms, sort of, with four episodes tacked on to its fourth season to wrap up its story, and, in perfect Kings fashion, left us wondering if raising the Antichrist was a good or bad decision. 

If you needed more proof of the slow death of prestige TV, look no further than Tokyo Vice, the critically acclaimed drama executive produced by Michael Mann. The series, starring Ansel Elgort as an investigative journalist looking into organized crime in Japan, was axed after two seasons.

The cancellation of Julia, a light drama about Julia Child (Sarah Lancashire), after two seasons definitely left a bad taste in our mouths. As a recounting of Child's influential life, Julia was fantastic. As an exploration of love and friendship between an older couple, it was delicious.

OK, this one's not quite done yet, but its impending end was announced this year. We're sad we're not getting much more of The Boys — we expect the fifth and final season to air in 2026 — but at least the series is ending on its own terms, and if we're honest, it's probably going out at the right time. However, as one of Prime Video's most popular shows, its universe will live on on spin-offs, including the currently airing Gen V and The Boys: Diabolical, and the forthcoming The Boys: Mexico and Vought Rising.

9-1-1: Lone Star's demise might be in large part due to the corporate changes over at Fox, which let many of its scripted shows wither away after selling its home studio 20th Century Fox Television — which made 9-1-1: Lone Star — to Fox rival Disney years ago. (9-1-1, which was also made by 20th Television, was canceled by Fox and picked up by the Disney-owned ABC.) Honestly, the series surviving for five seasons on the Fox network under these unfavorable conditions is impressive. The final episode will air in February 2025.

What started off as a simple pirate comedy became something much greater as the antagonistic relationship between Stede Bonnet (Rhys Darby) and Blackbeard (Taika Waititi) transformed into something full-on romantic toward the end of Season 1, turning Our Flag Means Death into a cult LGBTQ+ hit. As word of mouth spread, its fans grew, but Max still canceled the series after two seasons.

HBO's darling dramedy Somebody Somewhere didn't choose to end on its own terms, but it could have fooled us; the triumphant series finale was a fitting conclusion to this beloved, critically acclaimed series about a woman finding herself and her community in Kansas. (And it earned one of the highest Metacritic scores of the year.) That said, we're already hoping these characters find their way back someday. Three seasons and a movie, anyone?

The animated series Scavengers Reign was heralded as one of the best science-fiction properties of the year, television or otherwise, but it wasn't enough to earn the series a second season. Max canceled it in May, but there was hope it could live on at Netflix after the streamer acquired it. Sadly, Netflix decided not to pick it up for a second season.

The sun set for The Brothers Sun pretty quickly; after premiering in early January, the action comedy-drama about a man who discovers his family is tied to Asian gangsters was canceled after one season on March 1. Though it had decent-but-not-great reviews, it had a loyal fan base that collectively wept when the cancellation news broke. It was the second TV series starring Michelle Yeoh to get canceled in early 2024, along with Disney+'s American Born Chinese. I'm not saying she's a jinx; I'm just noting a striking coincidence.

Disney is learning the hard way that you can't just slap "Star Wars" on a show and guarantee a hit. Ignore the review bombing; The Acolyte was a good show with the potential to be great, but Disney+ (like picky Star Wars fans) wasn't going to stick around to find out, axing the series after just one season.

Taika Waititi, Iain Morris, and Jemaine Clement's adaptation of the '80s adventure film Time Bandits was a perfect fit. The producers and the movie shared the same sense of lunacy, which made for a fun and odd story about a child who tags along with time-traveling thieves, but they couldn't zap to the future to see the show getting canceled after one season.

The rise of the British period drama trickled all the way down to Disney+ family shows with Renegade Nell, a fun fantasy series from Happy Valley creator Sally Wainwright. Louisa Harland starred as Nell, a fugitive with special powers who fights against evil highwaymen and conniving noblemen. But she couldn't fight off cancellation; Renegade Nell was let go after one season.

Prime Video's Outer Range put the wild in the Western. Josh Brolin starred as a rancher who found a time-travel portal in one of his pastures, and it only got weirder from there. The genre-bending mystery had loyal fans but proved to be too off-kilter for mainstream audiences, leading Prime Video to cancel it after its second season.

The Big Door Prize was always about the journey instead of the answers to the show's central question — what would happen if everyone in a small town was told their life's potential? While that makes for a fascinating philosophical discussion, it doesn't make for a successful TV show in today's "show me the answers NOW" culture. Now the show is left with loose ends after being canceled following its second season.

With The CW as we knew it dead and gone, Netflix's Dead Boy Detectives seemed to be the show we could go to for our goth-fueled YA fantasy mysteries. The series, based on characters created by Neil Gaiman, followed a pair of young ghosts who investigated supernatural crimes, but it never found a wide enough audience and was canceled after one season.

After a beloved and Emmy-winning Season 1, Arcane Season 2 was one of the most anticipated shows of 2024, but we didn't even know Season 2 would be its last until June, when Netflix and Riot Games made the announcement. However, Arcane went out on its own terms, with Riot Games choosing the end point as a creative decision, and looking to tell more stories in the League of Legends universe in other yet-to-be-announced shows.

That Minx, a comedy set in the '70s following the creation of the first nudey mag made for women, even got a second season was kind of a miracle. After its original network, Max, renewed it for a second season in 2022 only to cancel it later that year while the show was already in production (rude!), Starz came to its aid and aired the second season in 2023. But that's the trouble with saving shows that weren't finding enough success on other networks; there was a reason they were canceled in the first place, and Minx — as great as it was — just didn't have enough viewers.

The comedy starring Keegan-Michael Key and Cecily Strong as a couple who stumble upon a magical town stuck inside a musical didn't get another encore after two odd but beloved seasons. The timing was particularly weird, as Season 2 was an improvement over the first. The good news is that a stage adaptation of the series will debut next year at the Kennedy Center.

Chucky's reign of terror is over, sadly. The TV series based on the mop-headed killer doll was canceled after three seasons, due in part to Syfy's new business model of relying on Canadian imports and lower-budget domestic productions. Forget cops and authorities; the real way to stop Chucky was with capitalism.

We've heard this sad song before. In 2022, Peacock canceled the comedy Girls5eva after two seasons. However, the series was saved by the world's largest streamer, and the Netflix cover (Season 3) was even better than the original. But Girls5eva didn't get the Netflix bump, and it was canceled in 2024 despite being one of the best shows of the year. 

Season 1 of The Old Man was a big hit for FX and Hulu in 2022, but apparently it wasn't big enough in Season 2. The thriller, starring Jeff Bridges as a former CIA operative who gets pulled back into action and John Lithgow as the FBI boss hunting him down, also fell off with critics in Season 2, despite fantastic performances from Bridges and Lithgow.

And now for some of the good stuff from 2024:

The best shows of the year
The best episodes of the year
The best performances of the year